A Different Kind of Phantom (up for adoption)
by Dr. ForgottenFables
Summary: Just like the rest of MAR, Princess Snow had always fear the Phantom. The monster who had destroyed so much of her home world. But when the Gate Keeper Clown calls on another hero, she might just find that a Phantom was exactly what MAR needed. Danny was a completely different kind of Phantom. Violence. (sadly discontinued)
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

Danny was flying away from his house as fast as he could. The place was already crawling with ghost hunter. 'How did they find out?' He thought desperately. He had been so careful to never let any blood or an image of his transformation get out. How did they guess that he was a half ghost when half ghosts couldn't possibly exist?

'I need a plan… Sam. Sam will know what to do.' He thought, clutching at straws as he made a turn towards his friend's house.

He flew through the wall to her room to find Sam sit there with his other best friend Tucker. They looked up to him but they didn't seem surprised, even if they were nervous. But Danny was too shaken himself to notice any of it. Why would he be analyzing his best friends at a time like this one? They had been his friends through thick and thin for years. They would never betray him.

"Sam, Tucker, I'm in trouble. The Guy in White somehow found out about my ghost half. I don't know what to do," Danny said in panic as he approached them.

"Danny," Sam mumbled, looking at him. There was sadness in her usually bright purple eyes. "I'm sorry." Danny let of a scream and fell to his knees as pain shoot through his chest and flowed through the rest of his body.

He staggered and fell, one hand going to his chest. He could feel a warm liquid running between his fingers. Pulling his hand away he found it covered in deep red blood that had sparks of green light that faded in the few seconds that it had been out if his body. "Sam?" The question died on his lips as he looked up at the ecto gun in the girl's hand.

Danny felt the sting of betrayal. It was one thing for his parents, who he'd always knew might reject him to fire at him and try to end what was left of his life, but he thought that Sam and Tucker were different, that they would always be in his corner.

Danny's heart skipped a beat as the door to Sam's room opened and in came several men dressed in bleached white suits. Each holding a large ecto-cannon. One of them approached Sam and Tucker. "Good work. Consider you crimes with this piece of ecto-scum pardoned," He said, his grin driving the truth of what was happening home for Danny. "Come on boys. Let get this thing back to the lab so we can start the really painful experiments."

Danny looked up to his former friends for the last time in his life. He tried to communicate all the betrayal he felt though the look in his eyes alone. But he had lost a lot of blood and the shock to his core was quickly putting him to sleep. "Why?" He whispered, just before his head hit the carpeted floor of Sam's bedroom, leaving him dead to the world. A ring past over his body changing his white hair to black and his jumpsuit into a normal t-shirt and shorts. The blood still ran from his chest turning his white shirt red.

Two of the agents moved in to restrain him. They pulled out glowing green cuff and the greed could be seen behind there sunglasses. But before they could reach him they were blown back by a wind of green energy that swept through the room, scattering books and loose pages everywhere. The hands of a clock appeared between them and the ghost boy and as they spun a portal opened and out came a ghost.

The ghost's ruby red eyes shone with fire from underneath his purple cloak, casting an eerie light on the scar that ran down the side of his face. He lifted up a large scythe in one hand and a staff with a clock on the end of it in the other. "You will not have Daniel!" He voice carried the power and knowledge of the centuries in it.

Tucker who had been quiet throughout the ordeal whispered the name of the powerful specter. "Clockwork."

"23 19! 23 19!" The lead agent was shouting. Clockwork moved through the group moving his scythe like a fish through a stream, quickly severing the agents' bottom halves from their top.

He finished the group of a dozen agents without even blinking. Then he turned his eyes to Sam and Tucker who were shaking in fear. "Be glad that Daniel would not want me to kill you. It is the only reason you will be allowed to keep living," He said, flouting back to the unconscious boy.

"Will… will he be ok?" Sam asked worry and gilt in her voice.

Clockwork glared at the girl who shrunk back. "He will… but you will never see him again," He spat. "I hope your bought freedom was worth the betrayal." Then carrying the unconscious boy through the portal, Clockwork allowed the gate to close leave the children alone with the bodies of the newly dead agents.

Clockwork set the young boy down on a bed within his lair. He watched as the ectoplasm in the air of the Ghost Zone began to close the wound on the young ghost boy's chest. Soon the boy began to shift and Clockwork let out a imagine breath that he had been holding.

Danny's shifting became more and more unsettled until he bolted up gasping his blue eyes wide with confusion as he failed to comprehend his surroundings. "Calm Daniel," Clockwork said in a gentle voice as he placed a hand lightly on Danny's shoulder and guided him back down into the bed. "You are safe." Danny looked up to see the old and wrinkled form of Clockwork hovering over him.

"Clockwork… I… I don't…" Danny stuttered and his hand went to his chest were the blood was still only just starting to crust. A look of understanding crossed his child's face giving him a look beyond years. "They… I can't believe it." Tears were coming to the eyes of the young ghost. "Why?"

"When the GIW found out about your half ghost status they went to Samantha and Tucker and offered to give them a blank slate in exchange for your capture," Clockwork answered the question. He shifted for the form of an elderly man into that of an infant child, a pained expression clear across his face. "I am so sorry, Daniel."

Danny shook his head and brought up a hand and tried to whip the tears out of his eyes. The only thing it accomplished was to spread a smear of the fresher blood across his face. "It isn't your fault, Clockwork. We all knew that it could happen someday… I just wasn't prepared." He looked up to his old friend and tried his best to smile. With the red blood and tears that sparkled green all over his face, he looked like hell but he tried his best to sound light. "Thanks for saving me." He choked on the last syllable.

"Just rest for now, Daniel. I will watch over you," Clockwork said gentle. Danny eyes were grateful as they slowly fell down. He was safe, his guardian was there for him.

Clockwork returned to the main part of his lair that was filled with clocks and screens that showed all kinds of pasts and futures, of any number of worlds. He was gazing with some intensity at one in particular when he received some unwelcome guests. "Clockwork, what is the meaning of this!?" One of the five Observants shouted as they appeared behind him, the one eyed green blobs that governed the Ghost Zone.

"Have you ever hurried of knocking?" Clockwork said with venom clear in his echoing voice.

"None of your games, Clockwork. You interfered directly in the destiny of that thin…" Clockwork had no patience for the creatures that day. Not after what they had done…

"Do not talk to me about interfering! Not after what you did!" He snapped, glaring at the Observant and pointing at the monitor he had been watching. It showed an Observant placing a folder reading 'Phantom/Fenton' on a GIW's desk. "The Observant are supposed to observe and judge. Not be an accessory to the murder of an innocent child!" Clockwork's glare sent even the Observant shifting back. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Did you think you could pull the wool of my eyes!?"

"The boy is dangerous, Clockwork," An Observant said, trying to defend their actions.

"I don't see you arranging the murder of Vladimir, or the Fright Knight. And I know that Vortex and Undergrowth's escapes weren't by accident. You would never overlook something as obvious as a fake guard," Clockwork said his aura building to a terrifying level. "You have been trying to get rid of the boy since he defeated Pariah and became the rightful Prince of the Ghost Zone."

"Clockwork!" One of the Observant said wide eyed.

"You fools thought I didn't know. I know everything!" Clockwork's voice boomed. "You only wished to have the boy killed so that you would keep your power. That is why you engineered the events to create Dan and then demanded for Daniel's death and not Vladimir's to prevent Dan from existing. A new king would leave the Observant meaningless after all," Clockwork said, flouting up to them. "If you try to touch Daniel again… I might not be able to harm you directly… but I might be a butterfingers around a certain thermos."

All the Observant shuddered in fear. "You… you can't mean that."

"I. DO." Clockwork said angrily and then returned to his monitors. "Leave."

"We… we won't forget this Clockwork," One Observant said, but froze when Clockwork's ruby eyes settled on him.

"Good," Clockwork said. "Then I wouldn't have to tell you again. Now leave!" The Observant fled as if the fires of hell were at their heels. Clockwork sighed and looked towards the back room where the boy who was like a son to him was resting. "I am sorry Daniel. Please believe me that it is for the best. You heart is too good to be king of the Ghost Zone."

* * *

"Happy Deathday Phantom!" A room full of Danny's ghost friends cheered. It had been one year since he had first became a half ghost and it was also his fifteenth birthday. Danny smiled around at the gathered ghosts who were all joking around and partying.

It wasn't a large group, Danny didn't have that many friends among the ghosts. But Dora was there along with Pandora. The two of them had worked together to make Danny a present. It was new cloths that would remain whether he was in ghost form or human. They weren't anything fancy; it was a sleeveless training style black gi with a white sash.

Frostbite gave him a dimensional bag to carry things in. He got a book of old stories from the Ghost Writer. The book had it's own sort of magic and a story that best fit the mood of the reader would appear on the pages and it was never the same one twice.

The Box Ghost and his wife, the Lunch Lady's Ghost, both came as well. The Lunch Lady had provided an huge cake that would have been enough to feed over a hundred people. The Box Ghost had given Danny a normal box with wrapping paper on it, but Danny couldn't blame the guy, that was just the Box Ghost being the Box Ghost.

Ember was also there, Danny had made friends with the siren ghost after his family betrayed him. It turned out that her family had also turned their backs on her in her old life, so she was very sympathetic with Danny.

"A guitar, sweet," Danny said grinning wide. She gave Danny his own guitar and a list of song he could practice with. She had started to show him how to play after they had became friends.

"Now don't get any funny ideas about joining up with my band. We got enough guitarists of our own. You'll have to find your own band," Ember said, smirking as Danny tested the instrument.

Clockwork chuckled as he moved in closer. "Well I suppose it is time for my gift," He said a glint in his ruby eyes. He pulled out a medium sized box and handed it to the ghost boy.

Danny opened it up and found a fingerless gantlet. It was a shiny silver and had a covering of a six pointed star in the center of three holes arranged around it in a triangle on the back of the hand, with three more holes on the part that guarded the arm. "Clockwork... what is it?" Danny asked confused as he lifted it up. It was pretty heavy but nothing that he couldn't deal with.

"The Ancient Gantlet," Pandora said, gazing at the piece of armor with astonishment. "Where... where did you get that Clockwork? It has been missing for centuries."

"Has it now," Clockwork chuckled. "Well then, no one would mind if I gave it to Daniel." He said mischievously.

"What? What is he giving Baby Pop?" Ember asked looking at Pandora and Frostbite who were giving uneasy glances. The ghost writer seemed to be scribbling something in a notebook that he cared with him.

"Oh don't worry," Clockwork said, waving them all off. "The Ancient Gantlet was a tool that was used when the Ancients first sealed way Pariahs. But it has lost all of its powers and is now nothing more than a trinket that I kept to remind me of the old days," Clockwork said as Danny put the Gantlet on. "But it does seem right that Daniel be the one to inherit it, don't you agree?"

"As true as that is, I don't believe that the Observant will like it," Frostbite said.

"They don't like a lot of things," Clockwork grumbled, crossing his arms. "But the hands of fate are turning. Even I can not stop them now," He mumbled so that only Frostbite could hear him. Danny was to busy showing off the new accessory to notice. The gantlet fit him like a glove, not too louse or too tight. Frostbite looked disheartened. "Come now old friend, you knew he could not stay here. This world is not good enough for him. He needs to leave. He needs to live."

"I know Clockwork... but that doesn't make it any easier," Frostbite said sadly. But they both put on happy faces as the party continued.

* * *

Danny was flying around the Ghost Zone after the party working off his sugar high and pent up excitement. He was laughing and doing loops in the air as he flew around not really paying that much attention to were he was going. He had been through this part of the Ghost Zone hundreds of times before so he knew it like the back of his hand. At least, he thought he did.

Danny crashed his hand into something hard and metal. Rubbing his head he looked up at what he had hit. It was a large flouting door, not something that uncommon in the Ghost Zone, but this one Danny had never seen before, and it was the kind that would stick in someone's memory. It was huge over twenty feet tall with double doors held shut by twin chains. Above the gate was a statue like a round head with a cloak pulled over it. The head had crosses for eyes and a large tong sticking out at Danny. It seemed like it was supposed to be a clown.

"Um... who put that there?" Danny mumbled as he got a closer look at the gate. He nearly jumped out of his skin as the head began to laugh and the chains rattled before breaking. The gate shot open and Danny felt himself being pulled in. "Wait, no stop it!" Danny shouted trying to resist but he felt himself slipping.

"Another one for the land of MÄR," Someone or thing said as Danny lost to the force that was pulling him in. This kind of thing just had to happen on his birthday, did it?

Clockwork was watching him from his tower. "Good luck Daniel," He said solemnly as he got back to his normal work. He need something to distract him from the sudden rain.


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

After the world stopped spinning, Danny sat up to find that he wasn't in Kansas anymore, or even the Ghost Zone. He was in a long corridor that was completely covered in ice. He could tell he had returned to his human form from his black bangs, which he could easily see since he let them grow so long.

His first thought was that he must have somehow been transported to Far Frozen, but on further inspection he realized that the place wasn't made out of ice, just covered in it. The architecture was also not right for Far Frozen, bricks and rounded columns instead of the more natural looking icicles and rounded walls.

Then he realized with a start that even though it was cold, the cold was not coming from within him. There was no ghost energy in the air. "So... I'm on Earth," Danny wondered to himself as he started looking around for a way back to the Ghost Zone.

"Funny how someone can be looking for a way into the afterlife without being suicidal," Danny mused as he looked around the hall, but there was no indication of where he had came from and the zero ghost energy reading was a good indication that whatever portal had brought him there was gone.

He was just starting to wonder what he should do, when a small squad of four guys in identical red and white masks nearly ran into him. "Who are you? State your business!" One shouted.

"Um... I don't supposed you can give me direction?" Danny laughed and rubbed the back of his neck a little. "I'm kind of lost... can you tell me what country I'm in... and maybe the year it is?"

"He has a ÄRM!" One of the masked men shouted, pointing at the gantlet on Danny's arm. Danny looked confused. "He must be here to rescue the princess."

"What, there is a princess here? She needs help?" Danny asked confused.

"We won't let you passed, the princess will be taken by the Chess Pieces!" Another shouted, lifting up his hand. Danny could see a chain bracelet with a small ornament attached to it. "Weapon ÄRM; Chain Sword!" the ornament glowed and then the masked man was holding a far sized steel sword out in front of him.

The other masked people pulled out similar weapons; a spear, an ax, and a club, all coming from ornaments. They rushed Danny, but that proved to be a mistake. The battle hardened fifteen year old was a lot more than they were ready for.

Danny deflected the sword with his gantlet and pushed it so that it got in the way of the spear. Using the first two fighters as shields he elbowed the sword wielder in the gut before throwing him at the spearman.

The ax and the club were easy to dodge and he landed solid blows to either side of the offending men's heads, knocking them both out for the count. Danny had to pause after the small skirmish was over to marvel at his own strength and speed. He had already been stronger and faster than most people, even in his human form, but know he was even stronger and faster now.

The spear used groaned from underneath the swordsman. Danny pulled his spear away from him and positioned the head of the blade near the man's throat. "So... what was that about a princess in need of saving?" Danny asked in a light voice. The man's mask fell off showing a pump face that was quickly covering itself in beads of sweat.

After getting directions to where the princess was, he knocked out the 'pawn' before moving along. He was disappointed when the spear turned back into an ornament. He couldn't figure out how it worked but he pocketed it along with the others weapon ornaments.

"I can't believe these guys actually identify themselves as pawns and wear those identical masks. Don't they have any dignity?" Danny ranted to himself. It was something he did a lot. Jazz figured it was a coping mechanism to help stop him from being driven insane by all the indignities and betrayal he had to suffer through out his life.

Even after everything that happened, Danny continued to see his sister Jazz in secret. She was the only human who Danny still felt like he could trust. She even went into the Ghost Zone sometimes to visit him. Danny still loved his sister and would have given his life for her. Well... given his life again for her.

Danny passed a few more of the 'pawns' as he went and took them down easily, one after another without having to call on his ghostly powers. Eventually he came across a giant door. Danny could feel cold coming from behind the door. Enough cold to keep the whole castle that he was in frozen solid.

He tried to push the door open but it wouldn't budge, it had been frozen closed by the ice. Danny took a deep breath and took hold of his own control of ice. His already blue eyes shone bright in the dark ice caverns of the castle causing the crystallized walls to glow. The ice shrank away from the door and Danny gently pushed it open with his new found strength.

The ice covered room was breathtaking to behold, but the thing that really captured the young Phantom's attention was a girl. She had short dark blue hair that almost seemed black and was wearing a pink sweater jacket and red shorts. On top of her head was a large pink bow. But the most astonishing thing of all, was that she was completely encased in ice.

Danny could feel that the cold was coming from her, so much cold that even he actually felt a slight chill from it, despite his icy heart. Danny walked straight up to the block of ice. 'She's alive.' He knew. Not just thought but knew. He didn't know how he knew it but as he put his hand on the ice he could fell it breathing for her.

Danny closed his eyes and called on his own control over ice. The ice that incased the girl slowly disappeared until her body came free. Danny had been unprepared for this and was shocked when the freed girl fell down on top of him pinning him to the ground and causing him to hit his head.

It wasn't until the stars left his eyes that he realized something warm was pressed up against his lips. Danny's heart started to race as he stared up into the girl's closed eyes as they slowly opened. They lips had been pressed together when the girl had fallen free of the ice, causing them to share a kiss.

"I'm so sorry!" Danny said quickly, pushing the girl off of him as gently as he could in his shocked state. "You just... you were frozen and I..."

"No... I'm sorry," The girl said, flushing bright red as she realized what had happened. "I was the one that fell on you." She looked away in embarrassment.

"Yeah but it's not like you meant to." Danny said also embarrassed.

"Neither did you, did you?" The girl said weakly.

Danny chuckled. "How about we just say that we're both sorry and start over. Hey, I'm Danny. I've heard there is a princess here needing saving. Want help me out?" He joked.

The girl giggled but she seemed a little tired. "I'm Princess Snow of Lestava. So unless there was another princess held up in this castle, I think I'm the one you're here to save. It's nice to meet you Danny."

Danny grinned. "Well that makes everything a lot easier, nice to meet you Princess Snow."

"Just call me Snow, we aren't in Lestava right now." Snow said happily.

"Well I'll be." A voice from the door startled to the back to reality. "Looks like we won't have to wait for Halloween to come with that fire ÄRM after all." In the doorway were two figures. The first was a tall young man with really spiky black hair who was wearing a mask, but this mask was different from the ones that the 'pawns' from before had been wearing. He was dressed with long sleeves to cover his hands and was the one that had spoken up. "Now do yourself a favor kid, and hand over the princess."

Danny positioned himself between Snow and the new comers. Snow tried to stand up but she was too tired to stand and just fell back to her knees. "You okay, Snow?" Danny asked worriedly.

"I'm... I'm okay, you don't need to worry about me, Danny." Snow said putting on a brave face, but it was clear that she wasn't going anywhere and that she was scared.

"It looks as if the princess has drained herself by putting that ice barrier around her." The second intruder said. This one was a little girl, looking as if she was only about eight years old, with an extreme hollow voice and expression. She had a mask like the others though hers was also different and she had it pulled to the side so that it covered one of her blond pigtails. She had a large suitcase on her back that was held closed by two straps. "And that boy doesn't seem to have any magical power, I wonder who he managed to get passed all the other, even if they were only 'pawns'."

"Danny, just run away, I'm the one they are after." Snow pleaded.

"You should listen to the little lady. Stand in our way and you'll just get hurt." The man said stepping forward. He had a voice that creeped Danny out a little.

"I'm not going anywhere." Danny said with finally and dropped into a fighter's stance. "Don't worry Snow, I'll protect you." Snow was wide eyed as a boy she had just met was preparing to lay down his life to protect her. She had to find down a blush. She cursed herself for her own weakness. If only she wasn't so tired then maybe she could help.

The man started to laugh. "Man, listen to this kid talk. Hey Loco, mind if I play with him?" The man asked the little girl. "We've had too many feasts recently. I want some exercise."

"Loco won't. And don't address Loco like Loco is a child, Ian. Loco is older than you." Loco replied to her comrade. Danny was glad to hear that the little girl wasn't really a young little girl. It made it a lot easier for him to beat her up if needed.

"Then lets do this kid." The man said removing his mask to reveal a fox like grin. Danny put out his hand in front of him and tried to fire off a ghost ray... but it never came. His eyes widened as he realized that he couldn't call on any of his ghost powers other than his ice. "What's the matter kid? You getting scared?"

Danny didn't wait for another word. If he couldn't count on his ghost powers than he would just have to do it the old fashion way. He moved forward, quickly reducing the distance between himself and Ian. The smiling man swung out his arms and Danny felt pain shot through him and he was knocked back. He had barely been able to see Ian's arms move and had no idea what kind of weapon that had been used against him since it only left his sleeves for a fraction of a second.

"That was fast." Danny mumbled as he pushed himself back up.

"Danny, are you alright?" Snow asked.

"Don't worry, he hardly more than brushed me." Danny said grinning at Ian. "Let's try that again." Danny said moving forward again. He still couldn't see the attack, but he didn't have to. He saw the movement of Ian's shoulders, and from where the first attack had landed he managed to guess were the next one was aimed. Danny blocked it with the Ancient Gantlet before continuing to move forward but he was hit by a second blow on the opposite side of his body and sent flying back hard into a pillar.

"Danny!" Snow shouted.

"Well kid I'm impressed, you managed to block my attack. I didn't even think that you could see my ÄRM." Ian said mockingly. But Ian was really curious about the young boy. Even though he didn't have any magic to provide him with a sixth sense, he was still able to react in time to his attacks. On top of that, Ian was having a hard time finding his way through the boy's guard even with his own sixth sense.

"I can't see your weapon, but something like that's never stopped me before." Danny pushed himself back up. He had gotten closer but he left his left side to exposed, he need something to help guard it.

"Why aren't you activating your ÄRM?" Loco asked looking at Danny.

Danny finally asked the question he had been wondering since he had first heard the word. "People keep using that word but I don't know what it means. What's an ÄRM?"

Everyone in the room just blinked at the boy. "You're kidding, right?" Ian said dumbfounded. "You know, an ÄRM like those weapons our pawns used against you, or that thing on your arm." He said pointing at the gantlet.

Danny looked down at the Ancient Gantlet. "So... I just need to activate it then huh?" Danny said lifting up his ÄRM. Then he said the same thing that he had heard all the 'pawns' say. "Weapon ÄRM; Ancient Gantlet!" He shouted. A moment passed but nothing happened. "Well can't blame a brother for trying." Danny joked as the people watching face planted. But Danny was already trying to think up a plan. "You know you are a lot stronger than those guys I was fighting in the corridors. Why's that?" Danny asked as he reached back into his dimensional bag that Frostbite had given him.

"What are you stupid kid? We're rook class, you can't compare us to those pawns." Ian said pointing towards an earring that he was wearing that looked like an upside down rook piece from chess.

Danny groaned. "Man, I'm no good at chess. Can't we play checkers or connect four?" Danny joked as he searched in his bag for the pieces that he needed. "What is a rook anyways? Is that the horsy one? Couldn't you just say that your the horsy class?"

"Those are the knights stupid." Ian half growled half laughed.

"Are you mocking us? Or do you simply not know what the Chess Pieces are?" Loco asked a little angrily.

"...Yes." Danny said with a wide smile.

Ian chuckled a little. "You sure are weird kid." He lifted up his arms which were still covered by his sleeves. "But your really in our way so how about we finish this?"

"Fine by me." Danny said grinning as he finish his preparations. Lifting his right arm up and behind him he shouted. "Weapon ÄRM; Hand Ax Pendent!" A flash of light and he threw a hand ax that he had knabbed from one of the pawns at the rook's head.

Ian was caught of guard and stumbled as he avoided the attack. And Danny took his chance rushing forward. "Weapon ÄRM; Ring Dagger!" Danny shouted and a ring in his left hand turned into a knife. Ian swept his arms out but Danny was able to guard both sides of his body with the knife and gantlet. Without his balance Ian could not retract his weapons and Danny could now see that they were whips.

Ian was about to place a foot down to regain his balance so Danny threw the knife causing Ian to fall backward in order to stop himself from getting hit. Danny then pulled out the last ARM that he had prepared from his stolen stash. "Weapon ÄRM; Club Necklace!" A heavy steel club appeared in his hand just as he finished closing the distance between himself and Ian.

Danny swung the club hard and smashed it into Ian's right arm. The chess pieces was sent flying as his right arm snapped, the bone broken. "So these are ÄRM huh? Handy." Danny joked as he pointed the club at Ian. "Now go, I don't want to have to break your other arm too."

But then a red glow appeared around Danny's body. "I... I can't... move." Danny mumbled as he struggled under some kind of freezing spell.

"Danny! It's the girl!" Snow shouted.

"Well this was unexpected." Loco said getting Danny's attention. "You managed to over power Ian using nothing but none magical ÄRM." She was holding out a strange and ugly metal pendent. "Darkness ÄRM; Negzero." The girl explained. "I have placed a curse on you that stops you from moving."

"Oh man." Ian said getting up. He was cradling his broken arm. "I got to hand it to you kid, you are tough. Geez this hurts."

"Danny!" Snow called out again she tried to call on her guardian Snowman but she could gather enough magic to do it.

"Quiet princess, Loco is going to finish this distraction and then we will bring you back to the castle." Loco said angrily.

"No... you... won't." Danny said forcing his body to move. It was only small moments but he was slowly overpowering the curse.

"Impossible." Loco said wide eyed. "You can't overcome my curse with nothing but your will." But Danny was doing just that. He throw the club at the girl who had to jump out of the way. But in the time that she lost concentration on her ÄRM, the curse was lifted and Danny was on her. Loco gasped as a knee entered her stomach and she received a blow to the back of the head. She was unconscious before she hit the ground.

"Oh man." Ian said backing up a little as Danny looked at him. "Now I know we said some things, but if you look..."

"Take her and go." Danny said as he moved back to Snow. "You can't fight me with a broken arm, and she isn't going to be any help to you either."

"You're showing mercy huh? Not the smartest of moves but I'm not complaining." Ian said as he moved to the girl. and picked her up. "Next time I see you, you won't be so lucky." Ian said before walking off.

"They're gone for now, but there may be more." Danny said looking at Snow. "We should probably get out of here. Can you walk?" Danny asked.

Snow nodded and tried to push herself to her feet but just fell into Danny's arms. "I... I guess I might still be a little exhausted." Snow said embarrassed.

Danny chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll carry you." Danny said turning his back to the princess and helping her to climb on. The princess flushed at being carried piggyback by a boy she had just met. A boy who had came out of no where and saved her like a hero from her childhood story books. "Hey, don't worry Snow." Danny said mistaking her silence for fear. "I told you I would protect you. Now lets get out of here."

Snow giggled. And placed her head on Danny's back. "Alright, I'm in your care." So this was going to be the boy who had taken her first kiss.


	3. Chapter 3

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

Danny carried the tired princess down through the frozen castle, but as they moved the air around them seemed to get warmer and warmer. Snow was finding it difficult to stay wake as she instructed Danny as to where the hidden passages were so that they wouldn't run into any more Chess Pieces.

"So these Chess Pieces guys are trying to do some kind of evil take over the world business." Danny asked as Snow explained to him who those people had been. "How original. Though I have to give them props for actually making a club dedicated to it."

Snow giggled. She liked Danny's weird form of humor. She also always tried to put her best foot forward even during hard times, but Danny seemed to be taking it a step further and laughing in the face of tragedy in order to make everything seem alright.

"I suppose you could say that. But they destroyed most of the land of MÄR six years ago before the war games, and I am afraid that they will do it again." Snow said a little sadly, but then she started being a little more up beat. "But a prophecy said that I would find seven fighters who would help me protect everyone. Danny... could... could you... could you stay with me. To protect the world of MÄR."

"World of MÄR huh." Danny said looking out a side window at lush green fields and mountains in the distance. "Well I don't exactly know where I am or how to go back, so I don't see any problem with helping you out. We're friends after all." Danny said grinning.

Snow smiled and placed her head on Danny's back. "Thank you, Danny." She whispered.

As they went down a spiral staircase they ran into another group that was going up the stairs. "Come on Jack, we need to hurry!" A voice shouted and a boy with spiky blond hair and a ponytail came into view nearly running straight into them. Danny hopped back several stairs and regained his footing as he reached into his bag and grabbed another ÄRM.

A boy with black hair who resembled a monkey and a large metal ball with a face on it that the end of a chain that was connected to a hammer rounded the corner after the boy. "Ginta you need to slow..." The monkey boy started but stopped as he saw Danny holding a sword out in front of him with one hand and holding up the princess up on his back with the other.

"Ko... Koyuki?" The boy called Ginta said wide eyed as he looked over Danny's shoulder at Snow.

"Wait for me..." A voice said from behind them and a dog came up the stairs panting for breath. He had a red Santa's hat and huge glasses. Danny was a little surprised by the talking dog and the metal ball with a face on it, but they wouldn't be considered that out of the ordinary in the Ghost Zone.

"Ed!" Snow said excitedly as she looked down at the dog.

"Princess!" The dog said starting to tear up. "You're alright!"

"Yes, Ed. I knew you would come for me." Snow said smiling gratefully.

"Friends of yours?" Danny asked lowering his sword which turned back into a trinket.

"Ed is, but I've never seen these three before." Snow said looking that the others.

"Princess, these brave boys volunteered to help me save you." The dog said gesturing to the other. "This is Ginta and Jack. The ÄRM's name is Babbo."

"Oh, thank you all for coming, but Danny already saved me." Snow said smiling from over Danny's shoulder.

Ginta was still staring a little dazed at Snow's face but he was starting to shake off whatever had shocked him. "Aww, I was looking forward to rescuing a real princess too. Oh well, it's nice to meet you Princess Snow, Danny." Ginta said grinning. He was going to walk forward but the ÄRM in his hand held him back. "What gives Babbo!?" He demanded.

"This boy... I feel like I have seen him somewhere before." Babbo said staring hard at Danny's face. "Do I... know you?"

Danny shrugged to the best of his ability with the Princess still on his back. "Probably not. I'm not exactly from around here if you know what I mean." Danny assumed that the ball didn't. "And I don't think I've ever meet a talking metal ball with a long nose and mustache."

"Not to interrupt but... don't we need to get moving? I mean we have the princess, so shouldn't we get out of here?" The monkey boy, Jack asked.

"Um... right, good thinking servant number two." Babbo said.

"I'm not your servant!" Jack shouted back.

"How have you guys not been caught yet, if you yell so much?" Danny asked as a polite way of telling them to shut up.

They started down the stairs again with Ed in the lead followed by Danny carrying the princess with the others holding up the rear. Ginta, Jack and Babbo were looking at Snow with a dazed look in their eyes as if they were day dreaming. Ed was throwing Danny the occasional glare, as if he disapproved of him caring the princess.

"Princess, how did you get out of your ice? And how did you get passed the queen's men?" Ed asked after a little while.

"Danny got me out of the ice, and he beat the Chess Pieces too." Snow said blushing a little. "He was really cool." Ed was not happy about the blush.

"Why is Danny here anyways? Were you trying to steal rare ÄRM like Dorothy?" Jack asked scratching his head.

Danny chuckled a little, though he was secretly livid about being accused of being a thief. "Actually, I was just minding my own business back home, when some dimensional gate opened up and I woke up in this place." Danny said surprising the group. "So after a bunch of guys in masks showed up and attacked me for no reason, I did the next logical step in today's events. I went to rescue the nearest princess and agreed to aid her on her quest to save the world." Danny joked. "Good thing there was one in this castle." Ginta and Snow started to laugh.

"You're even crazier than Ginta." Babbo said looking a little scared.

"What about you guys? How did you end up here?" Danny asked.

"We were training for our journey to try to help save MÄR, when I kind of found Ed trying to sleep in the middle of a field a little ways from here. After we woke him up he asked us to help him rescue his princess and we agreed." Ginta said grinning. Babbo and Jack realized that their reasoning wasn't that much different from Danny's. After a moments pause Ginta asked his question. "Danny... are you from another world?"

"Hm? Well, yeah." Danny said a little glad that he wasn't on Earth but still not sure what to think. The others looked shocked except for Snow who had already guessed from the way Danny acted. "At least I've never heard about MÄR or ÄRMs or the Chess Pieces. Though I supposed I could just be in a very different time line or the distant future or past." Danny admitted.

"So your from Earth, like me?" Ginta said grinning widely. Danny stopped and the others stumbled not to run into him.

"You're also from another world, Ginta?" Snow asked curiously.

"Sure am." Ginta said, rubbing his nose smugly.

"Earth huh? No, I'm not from Earth." Danny said, not wanting to think of himself as being from that place. He started to walk again. "I'm from a world that is closely connected to Earth. We call it the GZ."

"Wow! There are even more worlds!" Ginta shouted in excitement. "Is yours full of magic too!? Earth is kind of boring."

"Inside voices." Danny warned and Ginta looked sheepish. "And you don't know much about your own world. There is a lot of magic on Earth. It was just hidden away from the world at large." Danny said causing Ginta's jaw to drop. "As for the GZ... it's a nice place I guess. We have our far share of problems but what world doesn't."

"The entrance is just on the other side of this fake wall." Ed said as they reached the bottom of the stairs. He pushed a hidden switch and the wall slide open. But as he exited he froze in his tracks.

"What's wrong Ed?" Snow asked but as soon as she could see the gate to the outside she understood. Standing there in the gateway was a strange figure with what looked like a tomato for a head with a jack-o-lantern style mouth cut out and hideous yellow eyes. Several spikes were driven into the top of the tomato head around the leaves. He was in a large black straight jacket which tied him to a giant steel cross behind him that was bigger than he was.

"Who is this guy?" Ginta asked, walking forward with Babbo while Jack lagged behind with a shovel.

"That's Halloween." Ed said shaking. "He's one of the Chess Pieces' knight class ÄRM users. This is not good."

"Snow... stay behind me." Danny murmured lower the princess to the ground and pulling out the sword ÄRM.

"Danny?" Snow said worriedly.

"Don't worry Snow. I promised I would protect you, and I will." Danny said seriously as he got ready to fight.

"Huh?" Halloween said, glaring that the group. "What's this, the princess is free and Ian and Loco are nowhere insight? What's going on here?" The tomato man grumbled.

"Sorry, I sent you buddies home. After all, you shouldn't do any heavy physical work while your broken bones are healing." Danny said grinning.

"You're saying that you beat them then?" Halloween asked, then he broken into a fit of laughter that confused the rescue party. "Oh that's a good one! A scrawny little kid like you! You don't even have any magical power!" But the fit of laughter started to die down. "I would love to stand here and joke around all day but I do have my orders. Though I supposed taking the princess would not take too much time." Halloween began to glow red putting everyone back on edge. "Nature ÄRM; Fire Hands!" He shouted.

Hands made of fire appeared out of thin air. "Look out!" Danny shouted and stepped in the path of the fiery hands. He did his best to block them but the common Sword ÄRM shattered under the force of the nature ÄRM's attack. Danny was blasted backwards and into the wall behind the rest of the group.

"No, Danny!" Snow shouted. Jack and Ginta were freaked out but they still rushed the Knight Piece. Another fire hand hit the ground in front of them causing them to go flying as well. "Ginta, Jack, Babbo!" Snow said starting to tear up as the Knight approached her.

Danny shook the stars out of his vision to see Halloween closing in on Snow with his fiery hands. Snow was terrified and trying to back away but she was still too tired to do more than stagger back. She fell to the ground and Halloween started laughing. "Your time running way is over Princess Snow!"

Anger shot up inside of Danny and he called forth the ring of white light to transform him. "Phantom Phrost; Ice Needles!" Halloween leaped backwards and his fire hands fused together into a barrier in front of him to protect him from a dozen icy spikes that had been thrown at him. "Are you ok, Snow?" Snow looked up not recognizing Danny's voice through the echo.

The princess's heart nearly stopped. Standing over her, between her and Halloween, was a figure that anyone in all of MÄR would know on sight. Lean build with strong shoulders and pale skin, and bleached white hair that's bangs grew out almost covering the eyes.

"Pha... Phantom." Ed said looking as if he was about to faint.

"No way." Jack said echoing the statement.

"Phantom." Halloween said wide eyed. "What are... you doing...?"

"I don't know how you know my name. But I promised that I would protect Snow. And I always keep my promises." The Phantom said. But this time Snow recognized his voice through the echo. And this Phantom didn't seem as tall as the one from the old days.

"Da... Danny?" She said surprised. Phantom's head turned to her and rather than the dead purple eyes that were feared throughout the world of MÄR, this Phantom had vivid green eyes that Snow would have never related to being dead.

"Leave this creep to me." Danny said, smiling proudly before turning back to Halloween.

"You... you're not Phantom." The tomato head said, starting to regain his senses. "You might look like him, but you are still just a child. Who are you!?"

"My name is Danny Phantom." Danny said, raising his left hand. "And I wouldn't let you hurt Snow!" He shouted before running forward. "Phantom Phrost; Ice Sword!" Ice grew over Danny's left arm and lengthened into a blade. Danny swung again and again at the tomato headed but his attacks met nothing but empty space.

"Hahaha, you might look like Phantom, and you magic power might have grown! But you are still only at the rook class level! You don't stand a chance against me!" Halloween shouted his fire hands coming down towards Danny. Danny pulled up his ice sword to swot them away but it melted on contact. Danny barely had enough time to dodge the second hand. "Now die, you want-a-be!"

Before the fire hands could reach him Danny reached into his dimensional bag and pulled out the guitar he had gotten from Ember. Using the guitar like a bat he struck the fire hands way. "What!?" Halloween shouted.

"It's a good thing Ember's guitars are fire proof." Danny chuckled though he knew it had been a narrow escape. His ice powers may still exist, but they were far weaker than before. Halloween was pretty strong and surprisingly fast for someone who was tied to a metal cross. Danny wished he had more of his attacks to work with.

But then an idea came to him. If he couldn't use his real attacks, maybe he could simulate one. Swinging the guitar into position and forming a pick out of ice, he turned up the volume all the way on the guitar. "Everyone, cover your ears!" He shouted. "I'm going to rock his world."

Everyone pushed their hands over there ears and Danny played the guitar as fast and as loud as he could. Halloween and Babbo were going insane as they didn't have any hands to put over their own ears. The fire hands fizzled out as the villain lost his concentration. "What a noise!" Ginta shouted as he struggled to keep his head on straight. Ed's more sensitive dog ears caused him to pass out.

As the tomato head began to sway, Danny stopped playing and rushed him, using the guitar as a bat he hit the Knight in his tomato head and sent him flying. Halloween bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

"You shouldn't underestimate me." Danny said grinning. "I may not be that strong right now, but I am resourceful as hell and have taken down bigger guys than you before."

But the smile fell off of Danny's face as Halloween began to laugh again. "So that's it, that is how you defeated Ian and Loco. You simply out played them." Halloween jumped back to his feet, no sign of damage anywhere on him. "Unfortunately for you, the difference in our power is to great for you to hope to beat me with simple trickery."

"Don't you dare think that you've seen everything in my bag of tricks." Danny said smugly as he reached back to his dimensional bag, but all that was in it was some useless Weapon ÄRM that might as well have been rocks, the magical story book and several dozen bins with some left over cake from his deathday party. 'Oh man I'm out of tricks.' Danny inwardly chuckled as he was starting to wonder how he was going to get out of this one.

"Guys, something's happening to Ed!" Jack shouted. They all looked at Ed, who had fainted for the noise attack. He was sprawled out on the ground glowing like a firefly. With a puff of smoke the dog's body disappeared and a much larger figure was standing in it's place.

"Good night." A deep voice said from inside the smoke. As it cleared the group could see a tall man with dark brown hair that was just starting to grey pulled back in a ponytail. This new guy had two small scars under one eye and was wearing a brown trench coat. "And good morning." He said grinning as he started to walk forward.

"You..." Halloween said his voice full of venom. "Allen."

"Wrong! I'm Ed now." The new man said.

"Ed!" Snow shouted in relief.

Ed walked over to Danny and placed a hand on his head. "Good job holding him, kid. I'll take it from here."

Danny's brain was still in jet lag along with Ginta, Jack and Babbo's. Halloween shot his fire hands at them but this new Ed just lifted up one hand. "Dimension ÄRM; Air Hammer!" The rings on his hand glowed and space seemed to bend as the fire hands were blasted out of existence. "It's been six years, Halloween. We ended in a stall mate back then. I wonder who is on top now?" Ed said cracking his knuckles.

Halloween started to laugh again. "As much as I would love to finish our unsettled score, I have orders to hurry. And if I spend too much time here than I will end up displeasing the true Phantom. Just be glad that the Princess and Babbo has dropped on our priority list." The tomato headed villain said. "But this has not been a waste of time. I am sure Phantom will be interested to hear about his young look alike." Beams of light appeared around Halloween. "Until next time, Allan." And like that he was gone.

"He ran off." Ginta said angrily. "Get back here you chess jerk, we weren't done yet!" He shouted, stamping around like a child throwing a hissy fit.

Ed looked down at Danny a serious expression on his face. "So... you're Phantom, are you?" He said, his voice held more curiosity than threat.

The white ring appeared around Danny's waste and traveled across his body. Snow was a bit relieved when she saw his hair return to black and the color returning to his skin. But she was a little disappointed when his eyes had returned to the original blue. The vivid green eyes had fascinated her and made her feel safe. "It's a nickname that I picked up. Why, what's wrong with it?"

Ed face was hard. "That name holds bad memories for the world of MÄR. But right now that is not important." He crossed his arms. "Tell me kid, are you serious about helping Snow?"

Danny nodded. "Sure. I already promised that I would. And I never go back on my promises." Danny said looking up at the human Ed.

A smiled broke across Ed's face. "Well then, that will do until we reach Pelika." He glanced at Princess Snow and snickered. "After all, the princess has taken a liking to you."

Danny and Snow flushed bright red. "E...ed, don't say things like that!" Snow shouted in embarrassment.

"Oh? But I thought he was your prince charming who woke you up? You even let him carry you." Ed teased. "Have you given him his thank you kiss yet?"

"That... that was an accident!" Danny insisted and Ed broke into even more laughter, saying that the dog inside of him wouldn't be happy about that. Danny was embarrassed beyond belief, but more than that he was happy. It had been a while since he could go out and help people. He felt like a real hero again. Like a true Phantom.


	4. Chapter 4

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

"So basically if the dog Ed falls asleep three times than this human Ed appears, but if human Ed falls asleep once than the dog reappears." Danny said as they walked along outside of the castle. It was strange that the inside of the castle had been full of ice from Snow's nature ARM but the outside of the castle was bright and sunny.

"That's right." Snow said. She had regained enough of her strength to walk herself and she didn't want to feel like a burden, even though any of the guys would have willingly carried her. Ginta and Jack weren't very excited when they found out that Pelika was on the other side of a mountain.

"Little unfair, isn't it." Ed said from the front of the group. "It's all because of a curse that Halloween placed on us six years ago. The curses affect on him was to bind him to that cross. So you can see why we don't like each other."

"Hey Danny, how did you do that thing were you changed your appearance?" Ginta asked.

Danny remained silent for so long that Ginta wondered if he had heard the question before he responded. "I died." This was not the response any of them had been expecting.

"Wha... what do you mean you died?" Jack asked, more than a little spooked.

"It's a long story." Danny sighed.

"We have time." Ed said shrugging. "It will be a few hours before we reach Pelika."

"Well... I guess I kind of lied when I said I wasn't from Earth." Danny started. "I was born and raised on Earth as a normal human kid. Until one day I was in an accident and died. But the nature of how I died caused my ghost to be bound to my human body and it brought it back to life. So I died, but I'm not dead."

"You're a living corps." Ed said a little unhappily. Snow looked sorry for Danny.

"Never really thought of it that way, but I guess. I always used the term Half Ghost. After that I could switch between two forms. My more human form that you see now, and my more ghost like form with the white hair." Danny said. "I tried to hide what happened from everyone back on Earth, but after people found out... I had to leave. I took shelter in the GZ... the Ghost Zone."

"That's so sad." Snow said thinking about how she had to flee from her homeland after her evil step mother decided she was a threat to power. Ginta nodded.

Danny smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not so bad once you get used to it."

"You really are a lot like the Phantom of this world." Ed said not looking back.

"Why do people keep saying that? Who is this world's Phantom?" Danny asked.

"Phantom is the first Knight of the Chess Pieces. The one that led them six years ago when they destroyed half of the cities of MAR." Ed said bitterly. Danny nearly stopped dead in his tracks. "He used a curse called the zombie tattoo to become a living corps, incapable of death. And I have to admit, you look just like him, with the exception of an age gap. And you were able to use ice without the use of a ARM, just like he could control fire without one."

"Danny was controlling the ice without an ARM?" Snow said shocked. Ed nodded.

"So... in this world my name is one of fear and death." Danny said feeling a little sick.

"Not just your name, but your other appearance, so don't turn into that unless you absolutely have to." Ed said strictly. Danny's head fell. "It is what it is, kid."

After a moment of awkward silence a small growling sound filled the air. All the guys looked to Snow who covered her stomach and blushed.

"I guess she couldn't eat while she was encased in that ice, huh." Ginta said rubbing the back of his head. The truth was he was also pretty hungry.

"No, its fine. We don't have to stop for me, I can..." Snow started but her stomach was louder.

Ed sighed. "It will still be a few hours before we can get to Pelika and get some food." He said not without sympathy.

"We don't have anything on us either." Jack said apologetically.

"I've got some cake if you want it." Danny said reaching into his dimensional bag and pulling out one of the bins of cake.

They all looked at him dumbfounded. "Cake... why do you have cake?" Ginta asked confused.

"I was actually on my way home from my de... from my fifteenth birthday party when I got pulled into this world. I've got a lot of cake from the party. The Lunch Lady's Ghost didn't understand that we only needed enough for nine people, so she baked enough cake to feed an army." Danny explained as he pulled out some more bins and some plastic silverware. "Help yourselves."

Danny handed around the food and Ed agreed that they could take a break to eat. Jack sat there poking at his cake with his fork. "So... a ghost baked this cake?" Jack asked worried about the thing. "You sure it is safe?"

But the others hadn't thought of anything like that. Ginta and Babbo were stuffing their faces and Ed was also not holding back. Seeing that the others had started without him Jack began to dig in. "Delicious." Snow said as she savored her slice more than the others.

"It should be." Danny laughed. "The Lunch Lady is crazy, but she does have absolute power over food. Though she usually uses it to try and stuff kids full of meat because she thinks they are too skinny."

It was a little while later when Ed decided to talk next. "Well, now that your stomachs are full, how about we talk business. Danny has just arrived in MAR today, how many days has it been since you came to MAR, Ginta?" Ed asked the blond haired body of Earth.

"Hm... about ten days." Ginta said having to think about it for a second.

"So, basically neither of you knows anything do you?" Ed said as if stating the obvious. "Snow, get the map out." Ed instructed.

"Alright." Snow said happily as she pulled out a map of what Danny could only assume was MAR.

"This is MAR." Ed said confirming Danny's suspicions.

"Ed, can I go play with Babbo while you explain things?" Snow asked nicely.

Ed looked like he was considering it. "I don't sense any magic nearby, so it should be fine." Ed said nodding. "But don't go too far."

"Babbo, lets go." Snow said smiling. Babbo was more than happy to go with the princess over towards a field of flowers nearby.

"I envy Babbo." Jake said as they left.

"Well now..." Ed said to regain everyone's attention. "This place is an island called Pazurika." He said pointing towards one of the small islands on the far northern part of the map.

"Seriously? This place is that small?" Ginta asked surprised. He had been exploring for days and hadn't seen the ocean yet.

"And this is Lestarva at the southern end. Snow's rightful home." Ed said pointing at a city on the far south side of the map, the opposite side of the world.

"Lestarva!" Jack shouted in surprise. "Lestarva is the capital of MAR. That means that Princess Snow is like... the head princess."

"Really?" Ginta said surprised. Danny didn't know that either, but it didn't seem that important to him. After all, he was the rightful prince of an entire dimension, not that they wanted him.

Ed nodded before continuing. "It is now being used as the Chess Pieces' main base. The mainland and islands are divided into different countries, and have there own rulers or kings governing them. And the country that symbolized and mutually controlled them all was Lestarva. Simply put, it was like the leader of all of them." Ed explained.

Ginta rubbed his temple in concentration as he tried to remember something from his life on Earth. "I learned it in class, but basically... During the Edo period, many warlords had castles in their areas, but the one at the top was the Shougun, Ieyasu Tokugawa. Something like that, right?" Ginta asked. Jake looked confused while Ed laughed.

"I didn't realize you were from Japan, Ginta." Danny said looking at the boy. "I wouldn't think that blond hair is a common trait there."

"I remember him saying something like that too, so it must be." Ed laughed at Ginta's answer.

"Him?" Ginta asked confused.

Ed looked thoughtfully at the two boys in front of him. "This is actually my second time lecturing about the world of MAR." He said smiling. The first time was to a man who arrived here from a parallel world before you two did. He was the leader of the Sally Army, the Cross Guard. We called him Boss. The Cross Guard was a group that was formed to oppose the chess pieces. It was an army made of warriors chosen from each country. They protected MAR during the previous war."

"But, this Boss guy is already..." Ginta started but he trailed off.

"Yeah, he wanted to go back to your world, but MAR became his grave." Ed said grimly. "He ended up in a stalemate against the chess pieces captain, Phantom. He lost his life." Ginta and Danny were both devastated by the words. It was like Dark Dan all over again for Danny. Looking over to the field of flowers where Snow was playing with Babbo Ed continued. "Boss isn't the only strong one. She is too." Snow was laughing openly and chasing around Babbo as if she didn't have a care in the world.

"No one else would be able to smile in her situation." Ed said sadly. "She's a princess who lived in a castle without any discomfort. She didn't know of the darkness in this world. Then her mother died, and then her father. She's even pursued by her evil stepmother. Yet she doesn't cry about it." Ed said, the warrior was getting close to tears. "She's smiling, hoping that one day, something good will happen. She smiles in front of others... always thinking about others over herself. The Chess Pieces are the ones who make children go through such hardships."

"She's having a lot of troubles compared to me." Jack said crying.

Danny couldn't help but to think of his own life. It wasn't so different from the princess's. He had lost everything and had been driven out of his home by his own friends and family. He couldn't help but to feel sorry for her. Though he knew that isn't what she needed. She didn't need for people to feel sorry for her. What she needed was control. She needed to have power over her own fate, and friends who would help her get it. And Danny resolved not to go back to the Ghost Zone until after he had helped her.

After a few seconds Ginta spoke up. "Hey old man." He said. "Snow's house is now the Chess Pieces' main base, right? Let's go there." He said seriously. "Let's go take them down. If they're going to come for us anyways, why not go to them!" Ginta shouted.

Jack grinned widely and clutched his fists. "You're so cool, Ginta!"

"Might as well, the first strike is worth a lot in a fight." Danny said also grinning.

"It's really far. Wouldn't you want to go back to your world?" Ed said as if testing them.

Ginta crossed his arms and laughed. "Leave that for later! I want to protect this world too!" He shouted.

"I don't really know if I like this world, but I already promised Snow I would help. So there is no going back now." Danny said nodding a grin matching Ginta's.

Ed smiled as the kids in front of him laughed about it. He remembered when Boss had said the exact same thing as Ginta had. But he refocused on them. "Come on! Don't be so cocky, kids." He shouted that them. They all stopped and looked at him. "None of you could even put a scratch on Halloween, out of all of you only Danny could take on a rook and I doubt he could even take one bishop. Can you become strong like Boss was?" Ed challenged.

"We've already decided that we are going to do it. And now that that part is over we just have to work on how we are going to do it." Danny said grinning. "Don't expect me to second guess myself just because I don't know how things are going to turn out. That's the best part about the future, is that it is what we make it."

Ginta also grinned. "I'll get stronger, and I'll beat them." He said. Jack nodded his agreement but Danny found Jack hard to take seriously when he was giving off sounds that Danny related to monkey noises.

"Are all the beings for Earth this stupid?" Ed joked smiling himself. He was proud of the boys.

Snow returned with Babbo. "That was fun." The princess laughed feeling happier than she had in days.

"All right. Snow!" Ed shouted getting the girl's attention.

"Yes?" Snow asked a little surprised by the outburst.

"They are in our party starting from today." Ed said confidently. A wide grin spread across the princess's face. Danny was going to be joining her on their journey to save the world. "Want to do 'that'? It's been a while."

Snow's expression changed to a nervous one. "'That'." She said a little worried.

The boys exchanged glances. 'What did we all just sign up for?' They seemed to ask themselves, but that didn't stop them for following Ed as he went towards the forest.

* * *

"Hey old man, where are we going? Hey old man, how do we become stronger? Hey old man..." Ginta asked his questions again and again in a loop as they walked.

"Ginta, please be quiet and just walk. Ed's probably trying to think of the best way to explain things and your constant chatter isn't going to help with that." Danny said as he was starting to get annoyed. Ginta looked a bit upset at being told to shut up. "Plus, someone or something has been following us since we entered the forest." Danny added in a hushed voice.

"Oh, you noticed too?" Ed said as the others seemed surprised.

"I thought it was my imagination at first, but there have been slight wind changes that don't match the shape of the surrounding trees. What ever it is, it uses the wind to move around in a way where we can't see it. How did you notice?" Danny asked.

"I sensed it's magical power." Ed said simply as they reached a small clearing with a few broken support beams from what must have once been an old temple lying around. "This is far enough though." Ed said turning to them. "Ginta, that ARM that once belonged to Phantom, that's your only ARM, right?" Ed asked Ginta.

"Don't call me 'that'! I'm Babbo!" Babbo interjected angrily.

"Sure brings back memories. I was the one who sealed him, when I was in the Cross Guard." Ed said smugly.

"Then... you're the one who hid Babbo in the cave?" Ginta asked surprised.

"Yeah, that treasure chest couldn't have been moved or destroyed with any ARM." Ed said proudly. "I had it set so only people with no magical powers could open it. So even if the Chess Pieces were able to find it, they couldn't have opened it no matter how many times they tried. And anyone with zero magical power could not have defeated the Guardian. I'm surprised you were able to reach Babbo without the Guardian beating you."

"You probably should have just had two boxes that each reset. One that could have only been opened without magic and an inner one that could only be opened with magic." Danny said crossing his arms.

"Perhaps, but usually the Chess Pieces would never agree to work with anyone without magical power due to there ultraistic ideas." Ed said shrugging.

"Hey, what is magical power?" Ginta asked and Jack nodded.

Ed smiled. "Magic power is something that is extremely obvious when you are being followed by it." He lifted his arm and his rings glowed. One of the nearby columns was blasted in half and dust was sent everywhere. "Come on out!"

There was quite a bit off coughing, and when the dust cleared what Danny could only describe as a witch was standing where the pillar had been. She was in a dark blue dress and hat and she had two long braids in her pink hair. "What was that for you moron!?" She shouted angrily.

"Dorothy!" Ginta shouted happily.

"That evil woman!" Babbo shouted less happily.

"Pretty lady!" Jack shouted... somethingly.

Danny and Snow were just confused having never seen the young woman before.

"You're the one who was in the castle, right?" Ed said bragging that he knew so much.

"I met her when I first got to MAR! We retrieved Babbo together." Ginta said happily.

"That makes sense. She distracted the guardian with her magical power, while you opened the chest without out any." Ed nodded. "Since she let you have Babbo, I'm guessing she isn't a Chess Piece."

Dorothy glared at Ed and flew up to him on a broom. "Hey, old man! What are you planning to do with Ginta?" She demanded.

"What are you to Ginta?" Ed countered smug as ever.

"Why do you care? If you're going to do something funny to him, I'll take you down." Dorothy said angrily.

"Great attitude, after sneaking up on us. Wanna fight? I'm strong." Ed said crossing his arms and grinning down at the witch. Dorothy jumped back and took up a fighting stance.

But before anything more could happen Snow got between them. "Let's not fight." She said smiling at Dorothy. "You're Ginta's friend, right? Then you can't be a bad person."

Dorothy seemed confused about the sudden appearance of the girl until Danny spoke up. "She's right, we've got enough enemies as it is without looking for more." Danny crossed his arms over his chest. "Not that I'm really the person to say that."

Dorothy's eyes widened as she saw the Ancient Gantlet. "Where... where did you get that ARM!" She nearly screamed as she stared at it wide eyed.

"Huh?" Danny said looking down at the Gantlet. "My... friend I guess, he gave it to me as a gift a few minutes before I accidentally ended up this world. He said that it has lost all it's power though, so it really is more of an ornament than a real weapon or tool." Danny said with a shrug.

"That... that's the Ancient Gantlet!" Dorothy said still shocked. "You said you are from another world! The Ancient Gantlet has been in another world all this time!?"

"Well, ya. I guess." Danny said confused.

"What's the matter Dorothy? Is it a really rare ARM or something?" Ginta asked.

"Rare doesn't cover it. I've only read about it in old books." Dorothy said. "That thing is legendary. It is the original ARM, the one that all others are based off of. It took several of the greatest elders in the history of Caldea to make. It is supposed to be one of the strongest ARM ever made."

"Wow, your friend sure gave you something special. Odd, how you happened to come to this world right after he gave it to you though." Snow said smiling.

"More than likely Clockwork knew that this would all happen. The crazy Stop Watch." Danny said looking at the gantlet.

"Anyways, I was about to give an explanation of magical power." Ed said scratching his nose. "Magical power is the force that ARMs users use to activate ARMs' special abilities." Ginta and Jack looked confused but Danny was withholding judgment. "It's a proof of strength that builds up in a person as they gain more experience using magical ARMs."

"Proof of strength..." Ginta repeated.

"By the way, the magical power put out by all three of you right now is... zero." Ed laughed. "In other words you are weak!" The three boys sweat dropped.

"It's true." Dorothy said with a shrug.

"Why? My strength has increased since I arrived here!" Ginta said indignantly.

"That's just your physical strength, that has nothing to do with your magical power." Ed said crossing his arms.

"I use an ARM too!" Jack shouted pointing at his bracelet.

"Oh, show it to me." Ed said thought he wasn't really interested.

"Weapon ARM; Battle Shovel!" Jack shouted. The bracelet lit up and a moment later he was holding a shovel.

Ed, Dorothy and Danny all broke down laughing. "He actually said battle shovel!" Dorothy laughed.

"I know!" Ed shouted amused.

"Listen, there is a difference between ARM and magical ARM. Simple ARM like your shovel don't have any magic, so you won't gain any magical power by using them. Right now there's no magic coming from the Ancient Gantlet or Babbo either." Dorothy said as she regained her composer.

"Then, what do we have to do?" Ginta asked angrily.

Ed reached into his pocket and pulled out some blue stones. "A have three magic stones, how many do you have witch?" He asked Dorothy. Dorothy grumbled but she pulled out five stones herself. "Good, then I'll place these three on Danny's gantlet and I'll leave Ginta and Jack to you."

Ed walked forward and grabbed Danny's hand. He carefully placed the small orbs into the three holes on the back of the hand's guard around the star. "There, it's all ready." Ed said as he pulled out another ARM. The ARM looked like a long chain with a silver wolf head biting down on a ring at one end.

"Wait, but how am I supposed to use them?" Danny asked but Ed didn't really care.

"You're on your own from now on." Ed said as he lifted up the ARM. "Dimension ARM; Training Gate!" He shouted. Two doors appeared, one below Danny and Snow and the other below Dorothy, Jack and Ginta. As they opened and the groups fell into them, Danny wished, not for the first time, that he still had his ghost powers.


	5. Chapter 5

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

"Oh my head." Danny said as he quickly sat back up after having fell through the 'Training Gate'. "You alright Snow?" He asked the princess.

"I'm fine, I've been here a few times before." Snow said giggling as her hero got back up to his feet. She had landed on her feet and was looking down at him. "It takes a while to get the landing down right."

Danny nodded and looked around him impressed. They were clearly in another space, the sky was a bright swirling gold and the landscape looked like something out of a movie about the Aztec Empire. Danny gave a low whistle. "Quite a pad Ed's got here. Who is he trying to impress?"

"I know." Snow giggled again. "We're now in another dimension. This is what the Cross Guard used to train for their battles before, during the last war."

"Wish I had something like this back home... actually this looks pretty close to the Ghost Zone, only with no floating rocks and the sky is gold instead of green." Danny said crossing his arms. "Though we don't have any trees. The trees are nice."

"Dan... Danny." Snow said shily.

"Hm? Something the matter Snow?" Danny asked looking at the princess.

"Th... thank you for your help." She mumbled. "I know I'm not that strong... and that I can't really help that much, but... I want to become stronger." She said looking up with a serious expression. She grabbed Danny's hands and pulled them towards her causing Danny to flush."Danny, let's get stronger together." She said.

"Oh, Okay." Danny said swallowing. "Sure we'll become strong together and help save the world. Piece of cake. Though I'm afraid that I don't know much about ARM, so for now I'm in your hands." Danny said rubbing the back of his neck and grinning.

Snow giggled again. "Well then I suppose that we should start by talking about the different kinds of ARM. There are six normal types of ARM. Weapon ARM, which can be any weapon with varying abilities, like Jack's shovel. And Dimension ARM can bend space and create different dimensions, like the one that Ed used to make this place." Snow said gesturing to here surroundings. "Then there are guardian ARM, that can summon guardian creatures." Snow said pulling a snowman pendent from her chest. She threw the pendant into the air and it turned into a giant snowman. "That was my Guardian ARM; Snowman, but I call him Yukichan."

"Cool... literally." Danny joked as the snowman bounced around.

Snow went up to the snowman and it turned back into a pendent. "Nature ARM borrow some of the power of nature itself, I used a Snow Nature ARM to incase myself in ice to stop the Chess Pieces from getting to me, though I guess that didn't work out like I planned." Snow said but she still smile. "It did help me met you though, Danny. And the others too."

Danny flushed. "Clockwork works in mysterious ways."

"Clockwork?" Snow asked curiously.

"Clockwork is the ghost of time. He's a friend of mine back home, though I guess he is the closest thing I have to a father right now." Danny said leaning back and looking at the golden sky. "He can see into the future and travel through time. But he isn't allowed to get directly involved in any events. So we usually say that he works in mysterious ways as a joke. He's the one that gave me this ARM before I arrived here." Danny said lifting up his arm. "He probably knew that all this would happen and just how it will all turn out. But as usual he felt like keeping me out of the loop. Doesn't matter, it's funner this way anyways."

"I didn't know that beings like that existed." Snow said amazed. Then she got back on track. "Darkness ARM, like that Negzero that the rook girl used on you, put nasty curses on people, but they all come with a price or risk to the user. I think you were able to resist her Darkness ARM because of your other half." Snow said thinking about Danny's ghost half. "Most Darkness ARM come from binding darker spirits to the ARM using magic stones, but since you're a ghost you can resist those ghost's powers."

"Makes sense I guess, but it's probably not something I want to risk. How do you counter a Darkness ARM?" Danny asked.

"Well there are two main ways to count Darkness ARM. One is by destroying the ARM itself. Though it may prove difficult to do that, if you are already cursed. The other way is to use a Holy ARM. Holy ARMs can dispel curses and heal injuries depending on there power." Snow said. She sat down and pulled in her legs. "But we don't have any Holy ARMs, and they are extremely rare, especially powerful ones. I wish we could find one for Ed." Snow said sadly. "It must be hard for them... to share one body. I wish there was something I could do."

Danny felt for the girl. It was just one more way that she was being made to fell powerless. But then an idea came to him. "Snow, the Chess Pieces are gathering all the rare ARM from around the world, right?" Danny asked.

Snow looked up confused. "Um... yes."

"So if we found one of there elite fighters and beat them, then there is a good chance that they could have a rare Holy ARM, right?" Danny said grinning. "Then the solution is simple. We get stronger and kick some butt! They will probably bring what we are looking for straight to us!" Danny leaned forward. "Remember, the hard part is deciding what you are going to do. After that all you have to do is find a way to do it."

Snow smiled whipping away a tear. "You're right! Lets do our best!" She said now full of confidence. Then she looked thoughtfully at Danny's Gantlet. "But I do wonder what kind of ARM yours is. There are odd ones that are't classified in any of the other categories of course, but I still wonder what the original ARM was like."

"Yeah, me too." Danny said looking down that the ARM. But then the magic stones began to glow bright green and soon the rest of the ARM followed. "What's happening?" Danny asked in surprise.

A voice came from the ARM. "All data in the Ancient Gantlet has been erased. Please input new ability data."

"Ability data? Input?" Snow said confused. She had never seen a ARM do this before.

"How exactly am I supposed to do that? I don't even know what that means." Danny said shaking his hand a little. "I wish Clockwork gave me a manual for this thing."

"You will imagine and create an ability that the ARM, Ancient Gantlet, will carry. Please input new ability data." The voice demanded again.

"So... I can create my own abilities?" Danny said wondering what he should do.

"Imagine a new ability in your mind. Then the Ancient Gantlet shall take that form and realize that ability." The Gantlet's built in manual said. "If your imagination is great, then the ability you imagine will also be strong. Now, imagine an ability for the first stone and input it into the Ancient Gantlet."

"That's amazing." Snow said wide eyed over the whole thing. "It sounds like it will let you create the ARM's ability exactly the way you want it to be."

Danny closed his eyes and started trying to think about what he was going to do. He had always depended on his powers as a ghost in a fight so he didn't know how anything the ARM could give him would work without them.

Then he smiled. 'I can do the same thing I did with Ember's guitar. If I don't have the real ghost power, than I can use something like it.' "I've got it! I know what the first ability is going to be." He said concentrating. He could remember all of it. The feel, the look, the smell of this power that he wanted more than all the others. He imagined just how it would work and what it would give him.

"Your imagination has been inputted." The gantlet said and began to glow even brighter. Snow had to shield her eyes for a second and when the light dimmed she could see Danny still standing there.

The Gantlet itself hadn't changed, just a veil of white mist like energy covered Danny's body. "Danny, what is this?" Snow asked starry eyed as she looked at the glowing boy.

"This is Ancient Gantlet; Version 1; Aura Guard." Danny said grinning.

"And... what does it do?" Snow asked not really quite sure what she was looking at.

"Well, I was thinking about the Darkness ARM's curses, so I created an armor that will protect me from curses and most physical damage so I don't have to pull any punches." Danny said punching the ground hard with his bare fist. The ground cracked under he enhanced strength but his knuckles were unscratched. "But there was another reason for this one." Danny said grinning and lightly jumped off the ground. The aura below him strengthened to support his weight.

"You... you're flying!?" Snow said covering her mouth as she stared.

"Back in my home world I could fly. I had a lot of powers that I lost when I got here, so I decided to use my ARM to remake some of them." Danny said proudly. "I think I will hold off on the other two for now until I have a better understanding of how everything works."

"Ri... right!" Snow agreed smiling.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and a dozen rock golems each four times larger than the kids came out of no where and started moving toward the two. "What's this about?" Danny asked.

"Guardian ARM; Stone Golems." Snow explained. "They're running loose in this area. Your first trial will be real combat. By the way, time passes slower in here. It's 1/60th of the pace outside. So even if we were to train here for 60 days, only one day will pass outside, thus we won't be interfered with."

"So we actually have time to train? I never had that before." Danny said amazed. "Usually something bad happens the moment I try."

Snow giggled. "I'll go first!" She said confidently before running towards the golems. Danny was a little nervous for her, but she had been here before so she should know what she was doing. After she reached the golems she grabbed Yukichan from around her neck. "Multiple Yukichans!" She said and used her ARM. Four giant snowmen, each as big as the Rock Golems rained down from the sky, each crushing a Rock Guardian.

Danny gave a low whistle. "You kick butt, princess. So why was it that I was saving you from those rooks again?" Danny said grinning as Snow gave him the victory sign. The other eight golems started toward him. "Looks like it's my turn." Danny said he rushed forward, easily dodging all the punches he landed heavy hits in the center of the golems' bodies, reducing them to rubble with ease using his Aura Guard.

Snow watch from the sidelines amazed by what she was seeing. Magical power was starting to radiate from Danny, just like the Aura Guard. "Wow. It's just like Ed said. I didn't sense any magical power from him earlier, but now... throughout the battle, his magical power was continuously rising. It's as if the water behind a dam suddenly started flowing out. Is this Danny's hidden power? Or is it his ARM's power?"

"Hey Snow?" Danny said looking up at the sky.

"Ye... yes!" Snow said embarrassed as she realized she had been staring at him, lost in thought.

"What's that thing?" Danny said pointing at a bell that was flouting in the air above them.

"Oh, it's finally here. It's the Guardian ARM I was waiting for." Snow said looking to it as it slowly started to lower itself to the ground.

"What, is it another challenge or something?" Danny asked crossing his arms.

"No, she's nothing like that." Snow said laughing a little. "She's the Guardian, Meriro."

The bell gave off a bright light, and when the light cleared a strange woman in a maid outfit with the ears and tail of a cat appeared. Danny raised an eyebrow. "I'm starting to think that Ed has issues besides the body thing. I mean... a cat maid?" Danny said trying not to laugh.

"Actually, Ed is afraid of cats." Snow told him.

"Yep, he has issues." Danny said beginning to crack up.

"Hello, Snow." Meriro said bowing to the princess before seeing Danny. "Oh, someone I don't know? It's been 6 years since I've seen someone other than Snow. It's nice to meet you." She said happily.

"Um... nice to meet you too." Danny said bowing his head.

"Meriro will be our training guide while we are here." Snow said.

"Please follow me." Meriro said before heading toward a large temple and going up the stairs.

Once they got to the top they stop at a large stone rock in the middle of the wall. "This is the Unbreakable Gate." Meriro said pointing at the slab of rock. "I saw that your fighting skills are pretty good as an ARM user. The next step is to practice synchronizing with your ARM. Please destroy this gate, but don't just break it." She said smiling.

"I can already do it, so go ahead, Danny." Snow said grinning before stepping to the side to watch.

Danny didn't really understand what he was supposed to do, so he just went for it. "Alright!" Danny shouted punching the gate in the center. Cracks appeared in the center around his fist and spread out across the entire gate. Danny grinned, but his smile vanished as the cracks repaired themselves.

"You're supposed to destroy it, not break it." Snow said smiling at Danny. "It's not about power. The most important part is being able to synchronize with your ARM."

But the grin on Danny's face doubled. "This is going to be more of a challenge than I thought." He said before getting to work on the gate again.

* * *

Over the course of the next hour Snow and Meriro watch dumbstruck as Danny unleashed all nine hells on the gate. He hit it from every imaginable angle, with multiple levels of force and multiple tempos of impact. But the gate always repaired itself.

Danny had just gotten a large hole in the middle of the gate and pushed his hands in before it could close. "Phantom Phrost!" He shouted and lines of ice pushed outward to destroy the gate from within. It blasted outwards and started to shower down around him but then reversed flow and fixed itself back to the wall.

"Thought that would work." Danny said, put his hands on his knees for support as he panted for air.

"You alright Danny?" Snow asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But I'm not going to lie, this rock is the most challenging opponent I've had in a long time. Maybe we should just box the Chess Pieces in with a couple of these and call it a day." He joked as he tried to come up with a new plan. Snow laughed a little at Danny's stubborn sense of humor.

"Maybe you should take a break." Meriro suggested.

"No I'm good. It's only been a minute or two." Danny said whipping sweet from his forehead.

"It's been just over an hour." Meriro objected.

"Which is only one minute in the outside world. And no one will ever say that Danny Phantom gave up after just one minute. Two minutes maybe, but definitely not one." Danny said pushing himself up and preparing a new strategy that involved leaving shards of ice inside the wall as it repaired itself in order to create weak points.

"He really is something else." Snow said smiling as she watch Danny work.

Meriro nodded. "The ability that he choose for his ARM work in a simular fashion to both a nature and a dimension ARM. To use it for so long when he has such little experience is very impressive. I wouldn't have thought it was possible for him to keep it up for more than a few minutes. But he is starting to reach his limit, whether he wants to admit it or not." An explosion went off and the rock wall shock violently but didn't get fully destroyed.

"Though he might actually become the first person to break the Unbreakable Gate without using a sixth sense at this rate." Snow giggled.

"But that would defeat the purpose of destroying it in the first place." Meriro said alarmed. She got up and went over to Danny. "Hitting it randomly won't destroy it." She said hoping that that would discourage him.

"Yeah, I know. I'm scanning for weakness. But it's taking longer than I thought it would." Danny admitted. "There doesn't seem to be any discontinuity in the rates in which the wall repairs itself, or the density of the rock. But if I keep hitting it and never hit the same part twice it should take too long to find the weak point."

The fact that Danny was actually searching for a weak point without his sixth sense made the cat maid even more upset. "No, you are supposed to find the weak point by synchronizing with your ARM and opening your mind."

"You can say that, but I really don't understand what you mean by synchronizing." Danny said looking at his gantlet.

"It's the heart." Snow said jumping down from her seat. Danny looked surprised. "An ARM is not just a weapon. There are ARM that some people can't use fully, and not all of them get along with their ARMs. But what's most important is that you understand your ARM and use it as if it was a part of your body." She said as she walked straight up to Danny.

"When you said that you would protect me and help me get stronger, I was really happy." Snow said blushing a little. Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Actually, I'm a very weak person." She continued shocking Danny. Weak was not the word that came to mind when he thought about Snow. "I'm afraid of the Chess Pieces. I'm afraid that I may not be able to dispel Ed's curse. I'm so weak it's pathetic. But you make me feel stronger through your words and heart. You gave me hope. This is what synchronizing is about. I know you can do it." She said smiling.

Danny looked down at his gantlet. "So... I need to put my heart into it." Danny said and closed his eyes. Snow moved back and stood next to Meriro.

Danny's aura began to flicker as his magical power began to change. "His magical powers are flowing in a different direction now." Meriro said startled by the sudden change.

"What do you think about Danny's talent, Meriro?" Snow asked the cat maid.

"He is a problem solver, and is used to winning his fights using his wits. He does have a strong imagination, though he might be to bounded by what he believes that he can do. I think he might have what is necessary for the sixth sense. The only question is if he will unlock it." Meriro replied.

"Danny is going to destroy it on his next try." Snow said with certainty.

"Oh, you have very high expectations of him." Meriro chuckled not taking the girl's prediction very seriously.

'The Ancient Gantlet used all of its power to seal away Pariahs over a thousand years ago. I should know it's heart more than anyone after the things I risked to stop that monster.' Danny thought as he concentrated. 'This world is now in danger too. We will be needed to help defend it, but I am not strong enough to do it on my own. So be one with me, Ancient Gantlet.'

As Danny's eyes opened and he saw it; the weakness of the Unbreakable Gate. He jumped up to it and punched it hard causing the entire wall to explode outwards leaving a hole in the wall.

"See? I had a feeling he would do it!" Snow said happily. Danny turned to her and grinned. And she saw them. The blindingly green eyes that had stunned her back during the fight with Halloween. The ones that seemed so alive. The ones that made her feel like Danny could do anything. The ones that made her feel safe.

Danny gave her a thumbs up as his white aura began to shrunk and his green eyes returned to blue, then he started to fall to the ground. "Danny!?" Snow cried out surprised. She ran up to check on him to find that he was snoring softly.

"Oh, I knew he was over exerting himself." Meriro said.

"Maybe, but it took me a few days to develop my sixth sense, and Danny did it after just one hour." Snow said moving some of Danny's hair out of his face. "He really is amazing."

* * *

An hour later Danny finally sat back up. "Oh man, I can't believe I passed out after just one hour. It just like after my first ghost fight." He mumbled as he got up to stretch.

"You did really well, Danny." Snow said getting his attention and holding out some fruit to him. "You got you sixth sense really fast."

"Thanks." Danny said grinning as he took the fruit. "But I couldn't have done it without you. Your advice really helped a lot."

"Th... thank you." Snow said blushing and looking at her shoes.

"Congratulations on completing the second stage of training." Meriro said her tail flicking back and forth behind her. "You have 179 days 20 hours and 23 minutes left before you leave the training gate. Please spend your time wisely."

Danny's jaw nearly dropped. "Wow, that's three whole days in the outside world. Ed must be really serious about this." Snow said cheerfully.

"That... a bit on the extreme side." Danny said with a slight chuckle. "But if I'm here to train then I won't spend this time just sitting down." He said taking a bite out of his fruit. "Bring it on."


	6. Chapter 6

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

The half a years training continued and Danny's magical power and stamina improved with everyday. He even started to train Princess Snow in close quarters combat and the use of ice in fighting.

Snow couldn't believe the level of insight Danny had into the nature of combat. Even though he was only a few months older than her, he was far more experienced of a fighter. Since he had always been the smaller one in his fights, and since he also fought with ice, his training was even better than the advice she received from Meriro and Ed.

But outside the training gate Ed was having trouble. In order to keep the gates from closing and trapping everyone inside of them, he had to stand in the same spot without food, drink, or sleep for the three days. And on the third day, just a matter of minutes before the kids were supposed to return, he was attacked. And exhausted as he was and unable to move, he could do nothing to defend himself.

Ed was looking pretty beat up as the two Chess Pieces stood a short distance in front of him; a pawn and the rook, Ian. "Come on old man, just bring Danny out already. I need to thank him for what he did to me last time." Ian said with his usual fox like grin. Four long chains with sharpened points extended from either of his sleeves. The whips flouted in the air moved by his magical power.

"Take a hike, little boy. You aren't worth my time." Ed said but he could hardly concentrated enough to keep the gates from disappearing.

"Not what I wanted to hear!" Ian shouted and the eight whips struck out at Ed.

Ed tried to brace himself but his body was to long gone. His legs started to buckle and the whips hit him from all sides. 'Ginta, Danny, Snow... I must stay strong. I must have faith in them.' He kept telling himself.

"I'm getting sick of this." Ian said angrily as he pulled back all of the whips for one final attack. "Die!"

Ed closed his eyes as all the spike like points came towards him. But one of the gates behind him opened. "(Phantom Phrost / Nature ARM); Ice Sword!" Two voices chimed together. The whips were shattered into pieces as Danny and Snow cut through them with blades made of ice. Snow's covered her right hand and Danny's his left. The two of them stood between Ed and his attackers.

"We're back Ed." Snow said smiling at her body guard.

"I've been waiting." Ed said smiling at the little girl. His senses were still dulled from exhaustion, but he could feel that they were stronger, both of them.

"Don't worry Ed. We've got this. So you just relax... you old mutt." Danny said grinning. "And yes, I've been waiting 180 days to call you that."

"Oh, Danny! I've been waiting to see you..." Ian started but he stopped as he felt Danny's magical power. 'No. He's different from before. Last time he only beat me by catching me off guard with some underhanded tricks. He didn't have any magical power. But now...' Danny's magical power was even stronger than his own. 'How did he change so quickly?'

"I didn't expect you to come back so soon Ian. I see your broken arm healed rather quickly." Danny joked.

The pawn started to move forward but Ian stopped him. "No, he's mine." Ian ordered and the pawn stepped back.

Snow also stepped back so that Danny could show them what he could do. "Watch closely, Ed. See how Danny imagined his ARM's forms." Snow said to the injured fighter.

Danny broke off his ice sword and crossed his arms. "I'm waiting." He mocked his opponent.

Ian grinned back. "Weapon ARM; Octopus!" He shouted and the eight regenerated whips went flying towards Danny.

"Ancient Gantlet; Version 1; Aura Guard." Danny said and the pearly white aura spread over his body. Danny walked slowly forward and as each of the spike points of the whips reached him, he punched them causing them to break. Ian was surprised as he weapon proved useless.

"That's the power of the first magic stone, Aura Guard. A powerful shield that wraps around his entire body." Snow explained to Ed who was genuinely surprised.

"Not bad, but Octopus can regenerate as many times as I need it to!" Ian said and the whips regenerated just as he said. He attacked again and Danny lowered his arms smiling. He effortlessly weaved through the storm of whips as he slowly walked towards Ian.

It wasn't until then that Ian noticed his eyes, bright green globes that seemed to radiate power and confidence. He had thought that Danny's eyes had been pale blue, still a rare color in the world of MAR but not nearly as inhuman.

Danny grabbed at the whips and started to twist them together into a knot. Ian backed away a few steps. "Can't regenerate what isn't broken." Danny said with a grin. "And know that you can't attack. Ancient Gantlet; Version 2; Spirit Cannon!" Danny's ARM glowed bright green as the white aura disappear. The Gantlet changed shape so that it turned into a metal glove. In the center of the palm was a green jewel with a black 'D' on it. The six slots for the magic stones were on the back of his hand around the six pointed star, with three of them filled. Danny pointed his palm at Ian. "Wide focus lense, power output at 4%." The jewel began to glow brightly as Danny's magical power was focused into it. "Fire!"

A wide beam of green light came out of the jewel and struck Ian in the stomach and sent him flying back into a tree. "That's Danny's second power, Spirit Cannon. He charges up his magical power and releases it all at once." Snow explained to Ed.

"One power for close range combat and another for long range. Looks like he put some thought into how all this would work." Ed admitted.

'How can this be? It's only been a few days since our fight at the Iced Castle. But now his power level... it's over 9000 Bishop class.' Ian thought realizing just how out classed he was.

Danny had changed back to version 1 and as standing in front of Ian looking pretty smug.

"Guys, we're back!" Ginta shouted as he exited his gate with Jack and Dorothy.

"Hello everyone." Snow said back smiling her usual smile. "How did your training go?"

Ginta gave a victory sign until he saw Ed. "Huh? Old man what happened to you?"

The pawn stepped forward and stood between the group and Ian. "Please use your Holy ARM to heal yourself." The pawn said its voice sounding funny through the mask as it materializing a spear like weapon ARM. "I'll buy you some time."

"Gido don't. You're no match for them." Ian said worriedly, but he was to injured from Danny's blast to stand.

"I'm aware of that. But I must protect you." Gido said. "You have the potential to become a Knight one day."

"Chess Pieces?" Ginta said finally realizing what was going on. "Alright! Now I can show you what I..."

"No!" Snow said loudly cutting him off. "It's my turn to show how much I've grown. You three were late, so you don't get to go." She said before running forward doing a few skips as she went.

"Um... is that such a smart idea?" Jack said looking worried.

"She'll be fine." Danny said as he started walking back to the group. He tagged in Snow as he went. "She can take these clowns."

The pawn got it's spear ready as Snow did a few quick pre-battle stretches and punched the air a few times to psych herself up. Then the little princess rushed the Chess Piece, moving far faster that the pawn was expecting.

The pawn stabbed out with its spear but Snow deflected it with her ice sword hand. She then used her free hand to punch the pawn hard in the stomach before knocking the spear ARM out of the pawn's weakened grip. Then skipping two passes back Snow brought here hand down to the Snow ARM on her belt. "Nature ARM; Iced Earth!" She shouted and formed three large chunks of ice that flew at the pawn hitting him in three different critical areas. The pawn fell back to the ground unable to continue to move.

This performance was met with slackjawed stares from all the guys except for Danny. "Boy... what have you done with the princess?" Ed asked starting to wonder if he had passed out and was just dreaming.

"Come on, we had half a year to practice. What did you expect?" Danny said grinning.

"I did it!" Snow shouted giving the victory sign back to her friends. Her grin threatened to split her face in two.

Ian managed to get up and walk over to the pawn. He looked down and checked on the pawn's injuries before looking up at his enemies. "Danny, I'd like to make a deal with you." He said. Danny was a bit surprised to hear it. Ian pulled out a ARM that looked like a golden egg with a red jewel in the center off it and wings sprouting out of the sides. "This is the Holy ARM, Healing Angel. This heals a certain amount of wounds and relieves pain. Let me use this on Gido, and I will give it to you afterwards."

"Isn't he just another pawn?" Ed said. "You're quite sympathetic for a Chess Piece, eh?" Ian looked angrily at the injured Cross Guard.

"What do you think Danny?" Snow asked unsure of what to do.

"Go ahead." Danny said shrugging shocking everyone but maybe Ginta who would have done the same without question. "But you two also have to not attack any civilians. Coming after me is fine, just don't attack people that can't defend themselves."

Ian nodded. "Deal." He said before leaning over the pawn.

"Danny what are you doing?" Ed demanded.

"If we don't take this chance, then some time in the future we might meet injured people and really wish that we had that ARM. Plus I don't feel like this guy is all that evil." Danny said shrugging. "A few of my best friends back home are people who tried to kill me when we first met and whose motives I didn't understand." Danny admitted. 'And the people who got the closest to killing me were once my best friends... I trusted them with my life.' Danny thought. The time that had gone by had not erased the memory of the betrayal. "Besides, your injured too, you know."

Ed grunted. "You're such an easygoing kid." He said scratching his cheek.

Ian removed the pawns mask and they could all see that the pawn was actually young woman around the same age as Ian himself. She had a mixture of red and blond hair and honey gold eyes. "It was a girl?" Ginta said surprised.

"My apologies, Ian." The girl said sadly.

Ian didn't respond but he held her close to him as he healed her with the Holy ARM. Once he was done he looked up at Danny and threw him the ARM. "Danny, I lost this time. But next time it'll be your turn." He said grinning once again.

"Sure it will." Danny said smugly as he caught the ARM. "But if you ever get tired of the dark side you can always leave the Chess Pieces, join up with us." Danny offered to the shock of his friends.

Ian gave a low chuckle. "Sorry, but I need to be on the winning side in all this if I want to make a difference in the future."

"So all we need to do is win then." Danny laughed loudly shocking Ian. "Challenge accepted. And once we show you that we are going to be the ones winning this war, you have to join us."

Ian laughed a little louder this time. "When you say it like that I almost believe you." He stood up with Gido in his arms. "Fine, I will aim for new heights, ever greater than the current knights, and if you still beat me, than I will join you." Ian said as light appeared around him and his girlfriend. The next moment he was gone.

Moments passed before anyone said anything. "So... training is finally over." Jack said scratching his head.

"Wow, Snow's become really strong." Ginta said grinning.

"Oh... thank you, I'm not as strong as Danny is though." She said looking over to the Ghostboy.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Snow." Danny said rubbing the back of his neck and glancing towards Ed who was finally able to move freely after three days.

"Stop fooling around, brats." He said but his face seemed pretty pleased with the results of the training. "Looks like you guys are useful now, so we'll head to the Hild Continent."

"Sounds good... I have no idea where that is." Danny admitted.

"It's across the ocean south of these islands. We'll go save the civilians from those fools who've declared war." Ed said looking down at the group with his tired eyes.

"What, me too?" Dorothy asked as everyone else nodded.

"We will bust... the Chess... Pieces..." Ed said as sleep over took him while he was still standing and he began to fall. There was a loud pop and a puff of smoke and there stood Ed the dog.

"What a dog?" Dorothy exclaimed in surprise.

"Good morning, Ed." Snow greeted the other half of her friend.

"Ah, Princess! It's good to see you." He said happily. "I was watching your fight. You've really improved a lot."

"Ah, that's right. This is the first time you've seen Ed's transformation, isn't it, Dorothy?" Jack said watching the scene in front of him.

Then Ed the dog spotted Danny. He glared at the ghostboy. "You, you stole the princess's lips at the Ice Castle didn't you!? Unforgivable!" He demanded causing Danny and Snow to blush in embarrassment.

"He did?" Dorothy said laughing. "Wow, good job kid."

"Oh what was the man inside of me thinking? Forcing the poor innocent princess to spend an entire half year alone with you inside of the training gate. I can't even imagine what the two off you..." Ed started to rant when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder.

He looked up to she Princess Snow looking down at him with an evil smile. "Say one more word and I'll freeze you solid, Ed." She said in a far too cheery voice. Everyone laughed as Ed fell back in fear of his poor innocent princess's wrath.


	7. Chapter 7

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

"Hey Danny, what's that around your neck?" Jack asked pointing to a dog tag around the ghostboy's neck. "Is it a new ARM?"

"No this is just an ordinary dog tag." Danny said holding it so that they could all see. It had the same star design that had been on his ARM. "Snow made this one, and I made the one that she's wearing." Danny said and Snow showed her dog tag that had a snowflake on it.

"Huh... so lucky." Jack said miserably.

"Does this mean the two of you are going steady?" Dorothy asked nudging the princess who blushed.

"What, no!" Snow said quickly. "It was just one of the things we did while we were trying to relax between training; like music, story telling, arts and crafts... you know."

"Training together, playing music, telling stories and making presents. That sounds like things that two kids that are dating would do to me." Dorothy continued to tease.

"We made a tag for everyone." She said quickly pulling out some more tags.

"A tag, made by Snow?" Jack asked happily as he got his tag, it had a small shovel on it. "I will treasure it forever."

"Actually... Danny made that one." Snow said a little embarrass. Jack broke down into tears. "I'm glad you like it so much." Snow said completely miss reading the tears. Dorothy's had a broom on it, and Ed's looked like a dog house. Snow then looked at Babbo. "Sorry, we didn't make one for you Babbo, but you don't have a neck. Instead we made Ginta's tag look like you." She said showing Babbo the tag. It look like a picture of Babbo's metal ball head from underneath with the long nose coming out of the top and his mustache clearly visible.

"Oh thank you princess. You are too kind." Babbo said before turning to Ginta. "You should be proud to wear the likeness of your great leader, servant number one."

Ginta glared at the orb but he took the tag and smiled. "Thank you, Snow."

"I was actually thinking of using that one as the emblem for our team." Snow said chuckling.

"Princess, I suggest one with a better design..." Ed said but ended up getting into a fight with Babbo about it.

"But Babbo is like the team mascot." Snow said pouting a little. "It only seems right for him to be the emblem."

"What's an emblem?" Jack asked confused.

"It's a symbol that represents out team." Snow said. "There are three major groups in this world. The Chess Pieces who try to dominate MAR, the Cross Guard that was formed to fight them, and the last one would be the Ruberia Bandits. Each of them has a symbol that represents them, so this is going to be our emblem."

"Aren't you guys trying to beat the Chess Pieces? Why not just join the Cross Guard?" Dorothy asked.

"You mean besides the fact that they wouldn't take four kids, and a dog very seriously?" Danny said crossing his arms. "Grown ups are stupid and to hard set in there ways to just get out of the way and let the next generation get the job done... no offense Ed." Danny said noticing the dog glaring at him.

"Well..." Snow said clasping her hands in front of her. "The day before I left Lestarva, an oracle left a piece of advice with me. 'Leave the castle, princess, and form a new group. You must find seven members. Those seven shall become the ones who protect you and save MAR.'"

"Seven huh?" Ginta said thoughtfully.

"Would I count as one or two people?" Ed asked.

"Only one of you can fight, so I'll go with one." Danny said scratching his nose. "And seen we really want the maximum number of people we should probably count Ginta and Babbo as one too."

Babbo grumbled about that. "As long as you are really counting me and not him."

"What!? I'm the one that does all the work!" Ginta shouted at Babbo starting another argument between them.

"Wait... I'm not in this, am I?" Dorothy asked not really wanting to go to war.

"What are you talking about? Of course you're in the count. It's Babbo that doesn't count." Ginta said.

"Don't decide for me... though it would mean I get to spend more time with Ginta." Dorothy said trying to make up her mind about whether or not to go.

"The Cross Guard is practically destroyed." Snow said regaining everyone's attention. "Its ability as an army isn't functional. There are those who fear war because of the death of Boss. So we will form a new team to fight the Chess Pieces."

"We'll have an army of eight including you." Ginta said rubbing his nose. "Not bad."

"I've taken on armies with less I suppose." Danny said with a shrug. "So, what's the team name going to be?"

"How about team MAR?" Ginta said grinning. "Eight warriors to save MAR."

Everyone gave there approve, after ignoring one dumb suggestion from Babbo. "Then shall MAR move out?" Ed asked pulling out an ARM. He activated it and a flying carpet appeared. "Magic Carpet. It's an ARM for transportation. We don't own a powerful ARM like the Chess do for long-distance travel. But it's just the ocean that divides Pazurika and the continent, so this is enough." Ed said proudly.

"Alright, onward to the Hild Continent!" Ginta shouted as he climbed on the carpet.

"I'll go like this." Dorothy said pulling out a broom ARM and flying away on it.

"I think I'll fly on my own power too." Danny said lifting his right arm. "Ancient Gantlet; Version 1; Aura Guard!" The white aura surrounded him and he lifted himself off the ground.

"You can fly!?" Jack shouted shocked. Danny grinned and flew up into the air.

* * *

Danny stayed fairly close to the carpet as they went over the ocean. "Ginta, I've been meaning to ask this question for a while..." Ed whispered after a few minutes in the air, though Danny and everyone on the carpet could hear him.

"What is it?" Ginta asked looking at the dog.

"She's a witch, isn't she?" Ed asked looking at Dorothy who was flying on her broom just outside of hearing range.

"Yeah." Ginta said not really understanding were it was going.

"And her name is Dorothy." Ed said. "Witches are a solitary group in this world, and they live in a village located on the Caldea Islands to the northeast of Lestarva. They do not interact with any other country, and they don't let anyone enter the islands. Leaving the islands is rare enough for them. She is unique, and notorious."

"Notorious?" Princess Snow asked confused.

"I heard she steals and robs ARMs from various areas. Blatantly put, she's Dorothief, not Dorothy." Ed said.

Dorothy looked in there direction. "I can hear you, you stupid dog!" She shouted angrily. Ed went into a panic, denying that he had said anything.

"What are you worried about? I doubt Dorothy would rob a friend." Danny said smiling as he flew along.

"Danny look!" Snow shouted pointing ahead of them. "It's land. The Hild Continent."

"We finally made it. We'll be on the ground soon!" Jack shouted in relief.

"Jack what have you done!?" Danny shouted at the boy who looked confused. "Never say something about getting to the ground while flying. You'll get yourself shot down."

"What? Don't be so superstitious, Danny." Ginta said.

"You do remember I'm a ghost right?" Danny said looking at the other boy. Moments later six harpoons were sticking through the bottom of the carpet and it was starting to go down. "I told you so!" Danny shouted as he grab Snow off of the carpet, but before he could get any of the others they fell out of his reach.

Danny flew down next to the crash site with Snow in his arms. "Is everyone alright?" Snow asked as Danny gently put her down.

"Somehow." Ginta said as he pushed himself up.

"Yet... That was..." Jack said trying to find the words.

"Nothing more than insolence." Babbo grumbled.

"Lets try not to make a scene Babbo. We've got company." Danny said as people came out from all around them. The most obvious one was a man with long dirty blond hair that covered most of his face and a long red headband that seemed to cover his eyes and a blue scarf that covered his mouth.

"Are these guys Chess Pieces?" Ginta asked seriously.

"Doubt it. None of them are wearing any kind of mask." Danny pointed out.

The dirty blond guy did a long jump and landed right in front of the downed MAR group. "I need to straighten out something with you." He said in a voice that was kind of cool. He pulled the scarf down. "You guys are Chess Pieces, right?"

Danny started to laugh. "You might want to get that head band out of your eyes. Does it look like we're wearing any masks or earrings?" Danny said as Ginta got mad and walked straight up to the long haired man.

"We're team MAR!" Ginta shouted at the guy. "You guys are the Chess Pieces!" Danny face palmed. "Picking a fight like that... fix our carpet now!" The long haired man looked confused. "What is it? Say something!" Ginta demanded.

"Did I make a wrong assumption?" The man said embarrassed.

"We're trying to beat the Chess Pieces!" Ginta shouted.

"Princess, that emblem is..." Ed whispered to Snow as Ginta made a scene.

Snow nodded showing that she new what he meant. "Looks like we're not in the worst situation." Snow said calmly.

"We're not Chess Pieces either." The long haired man said. "We're the guild of bandits, Ruberia. I'm the boss, Nanashi. Sorry for making that mistake."

"Great, so we aren't surrounded by blood thirsty psychos. We are surrounded by blood thirsty bandits." Danny murmured as he started to form a plan of escape if things went south. Unfortunately for him he was having a hard time finding a plan that would work with the bull headed Ginta and Babbo.

But then Nanashi started to laugh. "There's no way you kids would be Chess Pieces." He said through his laughter. Ginta shouted his indignation.

"Um... if you're Ruberia, do you intend to steal ARMs from us?" Snow asked the bandit boss. Nanashi seemed unable to answer.

Dorothy flew down and landed next to Snow. "What's wrong?" The witch asked.

That had done it for the bandit boss. "Now that I've had a good look, there are two cuties with you. My policy is not to steal things from girls. Rather, I'd like to escort you two!" He shouted. Danny realized that the guy was a pervert. The strategy of kill everyone and get Snow to safety was starting to seem pretty good.

Luckily some of the other bandits grabbed their boss and pulled him back so that they could force him to get some self control. After he did they brought him back to talk. "We've been trying to capture those stupid Chess Pieces to avenge our comrades, but to no avail."

"I can't imagine way. I mean, you set up a blockade against flying carpets, when your enemy uses instant teleportation to travel." Danny said mocking the bandits. "Aren't bandits usually masters of using strategy to get what they want?"

Nanashi swallowed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." He said sulking a little. "We've received no messages from our comrades at other locations. We'll head back to our fort for now, but if you guys are fighting against them, do you want to come with us?" He offered.

Team MAR considered it. "He's pretty stupid, but I don't think he's evil. Though you're the princess. It's your call, Snow." Danny said and the others seemed to agree.

"Ruberia is a group of bandits. They have a pretty large information network. It might be a good opportunity to find out about the Chess Pieces movements." Snow reasoned seriously, but then she smiled. "Besides, he doesn't seem like a bad person."

"Then we'll follow you." Ginta said grinning as well.

"All right, let's go home with the guests." Nanashi said lefting up his right hand which sported two rings. "Activate Dimension ARM; Andarta!" He shouted and purple light gathered around one of the rings. "Transport everyone in this area to Ruberia's fort." He instructed.

Light gathered around all of them and they were all moved to the Ruberian base. "What just happened?" Jack asked.

"It was instant teleportation." Dorothy explained.

"So cool." Ginta said grinning.

"Come on in. There is a lot to talk about." Nanashi said moving into the fortress.

* * *

They had told their story to Nanashi, excluding the part about Danny's ghost half, and the bandit leader was considering them. "The princess of Lestarva, two kids from a parallel world, and the weird ARM that Phantom had used in the previous war. No wonder they'd be after you guys." Nanashi said impressed. "And instead of running away, you form team MAR to fight them."

"We're going to save this world." Ginta insisted. "This beautiful world."

"Beautiful." Nanashi said sadly. "Maybe it's a little too late for that." He pulled out a few magic orbs. "Look at this." He said as he tossed them into the air. The froze in mid flight and light came out of them as they projected several images. Each one should a different city, that was completely destroyed. Everyone gasped as they looked at the carnage. Danny remembered watching Dan destroying the future in just the same manner.

"This is what MAR is like right now." Nanashi said sadly as he got up. "Elt Town, Geyrelulu, Akalpa Port, Eudaria. Just from our research, they have destroyed more than half of the countries and cities."

"So something like this happened while we were training..." Ginta said filling up with hatred.

The images disappeared and Nanashi started to walk out of the room. "There's something I have to show you all." He said and they all followed him.

Outside there we several dozen mounds of earth with wooden crosses placed through them. Grave markers for the recently dead. "They are the graves for those in Ruberia who died in the Chess Pieces' attack." Nanashi said gritting his teeth. "I will never forgive them. And it's not just here, this entire world is becoming one big cemetery, because the Chess Pieces have declared war."

"So many dead." Danny said feeling some of the souls that had yet to fully pass on, their regrets, their angry, their hope, their love. So many of them. Danny went up to the nearest grave and went to his nears clasping his hands and tilting his head in prayer. "_I wish you all a time of peace, until all things come full circle, and your souls are born anew_." He said in the ways of the court of Aragon, using the language of the dead. It was less words than emotions and melody. To the humans it sounded a little like a sad song.

"If this is the same plan they followed in the past..." Ed started getting everyone's attention. "The war moves to step 2 after this terroristic step 1."

"What's step 2?" Jack asked grimly.

"A war game." Ed said equally grim. "After destroying about half the countries and terrorizing the world, they bring up a game in the name of war. It's meant to directly kill those who rebel, to obtain ARM, and to establish that they are the kings of this world." He took a breath. "During the last war games six years ago, Boss, Allan, and the Cross Guard took the battle and gained victory. The Chess Pieces who have lost once in this game will probably challenge the world with a similar game as revenge. And they're not far away from accomplishing such a thing."

Ed was interrupted by a large crashing noise as Ginta punched a wall hard enough to leave a small crater, shocking most of the on lookers. "A game?" He said his voice trembling. "They killed some many people... and now there's a game of even more killing?" He clenched his fist in front of him. "Now I understand why everyone is so desperate to defeat the Chess Pieces." He said angrily.

Danny got up from the grave. "If they are going to come at us with this game, then let them. It will save us the trouble of hunting them all down." Danny said turning to everyone. His eyes were a blazing green. "I will teach them to respect life."

"Nanashi!" A messenger shouted as he came up towards them. "We've spotted Chess Pieces over in the northwestern Hild, at Vestry. Seems like they're still rampaging there."

"Vestry, the underground lake, is it?" Nanashi said. "I've been there, so it's within Andarta's range."

"Vestry?" Ginta asked not knowing the cities.

"It's a beautiful town with lots of water and vegetation." Nanashi said. "How about it, team MAR? Want me to take you guys with me?" He said holding up his ring ARM. "You'll be able to get there immediately."

"Becoming comrades with bandits?" Jack said questioningly.

"I'm fine with it!" Dorothy chanted to the sorrow of Jack.

"Why not, we already have a witch, and a dog... and a ghost." Danny said though he only mumbled the 'ghost' part. "Why not add a bandit to the list."

"This makes six people." Snow said smiling at Danny.

"Alright then!" Ginta said giving the bandit boss a thumbs up. "Transport us to Vestry."

"All right! Activate Dimension ARM; Andarta!" the ring began to glow. "Take me and team MAR to Vestry!" the lights appeared again and they were teleported away. But none of them were prepared for what they would find waiting for them at Vestry.


	8. Chapter 8

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

Team MAR stood in stunned silence as they looked upon Vestry. Nanashi had described it as a land of water and vegetation. A beautiful place. But there was little beauty to be seen in the land in front of them. The ground's were barren, the houses destroyed and the fields had been ruined. The towns people who remained were scattered throughout the area.

"The town of water and vegetation, Vestry." Nanashi said drily, his head band had slid down to conceal whatever emotion was in his eyes. "I've been here before, and it used to be a beautiful place. And now..."

"It... it's horrible." Jack said angrily.

"Who are you people?" A man asked coming up to them with two others at his side. It shocked some of team MAR out of their silent horror. "What did you all come here for? Are you Chess Piece? Or Cross Guard?"

"No, we're..." Ginta started but then was cut off.

"It doesn't really matter who you are anymore. Vestry is done for." The man said sadly. "Nothing would change even if it were to be further damaged. Assistance came too late. Do as you like. The farms had been destroyed. We don't even have the energy to live anymore."

"Don't say such things!" Ginta shouted. "Cheer up! Even if it did get destroyed, you can still start over."

"It's pointless." The man said not listening to Ginta's words of encouragement. "I may not look like it, but I was once a member of the Cross Guard. But I couldn't do anything." The grown man fell to his knees and began to sob. "I was powerless against a mere three Chess Pieces. I couldn't do anything, let alone save the town."

Nanashi walked forward. "So... Do you know where those three went?" The bandit boss asked.

The guard stopped crying. "Yeah, they're still in Vestry." He said looking back over his shoulder towards an extremely creepy looking cave right on the coast line. The entrance looked like a giant mouth and mist rose up as a result of the water that came down from the top of it. "They went through the entrance to the underground lake. They said that they're going to get the hidden ARM there."

"Are you going, Ginta?" Nanashi asked the outspoken boy.

"You bet." Ginta said clenching a fist. "Right Babbo?"

"Right. Only cowards don't do the right thing." The ARM said.

"I'll tag along too." Dorothy said grabbing onto Ginta's arm.

"I'm going too!" Jack shouted.

"Ed and I will stay behind and take care of the injured." Snow said.

"I'll go into the cave with the others." Danny said looking towards the cave.

"Are you guys planning to fight against those three?" The former Cross Guard asked in disbelief.

"You shouldn't!" Another man said.

"Yeah, none of you would stand a chance against them." The third said.

"Besides, you don't know what's in there..." The second started but Danny finished the thought for him.

"Let me guess, it's ghosts isn't it?" Danny said surprising the locals.

"You've heard of them then?" The third man asked.

Danny shook his head. "No, but I can sense them. I would say there are about twenty or so weaker wisps types and a single real spector type in there." Danny said seriously.

"You... you mean there are real G...ghosts in there?" Jack said starting to shake.

"I'm not afraid of them or the Chess Pieces." Ginta said proudly grinning. "I'll go get your revenge for you." He then noticed Jack shaking.

"I... I'm not trembling!" Jack said denying his own fears. "I never said anything about being scared of ghosts or Danny!" Danny's eyes widened and then he looked down ashamed.

"Then why are you saying it out loud..." Groaned Dorothy a little annoyed with the monkeyboy's antics. "And why are you afraid of Danny?"

"Jack, would you help us?" Snow asked snapping Jack out of his fear. "We need food to feed those who are injured. That's something only you can do." She said giving him a way out. Though she was more than a little mad at him for the comment about Danny.

Jack took it immediately. "Yea...yeah! Leave it to me!" Jack shouted. "I'm an expert farmer!"

"Then Jack, Ed, and Snow, take care of the town." Ginta said.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of things here, you just concentrate on fighting." Jack said encouragingly.

"I wish you all luck!" Ed said.

"Yeah!" Ginta shouted giving everyone a thumbs up. "All of you, cheer up." Ginta said before moving off towards the cave with Dorothy, Danny and Nanashi in toe.

"Who is that boy?" One of the men asked as they ran off.

"He might be able to take care of things." Ed the dog said with a smug grin. A surprised look came over the man's face. "Aren't you getting that feeling?"

"Ginta has the kind of effect on people." Snow said smiling at the man. "Don't worry. They will be just fine." Snow assured him.

"That's right, you can trust in them... even if Danny is a little scary." Jack said hands in his pockets.

"Jack!?" Snow scowled her farmer friend.

"What? He is a... you know. Different." Jack said in his defense.

"Jeez. Why don't you get to work already." Snow said before pulling out the Holy ARM, Healing Angel that Danny had given to her, after getting it from Ian. She ran over to the nearest injured person she could see and got to work.

In the back of her mind she could remember Danny's words from back than. 'some time in the future, we might meet injured people and really wish that we had that ARM.' He was right, she couldn't imagine what she would do if she didn't have that ARM at the moment.

Jack was right that Danny was different from the rest of them. He was not like Ginta, whose unwavering belief that everything would be alright helped everyone else to believe so too and gets them to keep trying.

Danny was experienced in the darker more cruel forms of life. He seemed to know what the next step should be and was planning for the long run. He had an unwavering determination to finish what he starts which helped Snow to believe that weight of the world could rest on his shoulders without him falling down.

So Snow had faith that they would all return safe as she went around healing the injured. And if they could keep going, than so could she.

* * *

"So this is the entrance to the underground lake." Ginta said as it felt like they were standing in the middle of a giant's throat.

"I've always heard that there's an ARM hidden here. I tried stealing it before, but people in Vestry had the cave sealed." Nanashi admitted. "That must be why the Chess Pieces came here."

"Consider yourself lucky." Danny said looking into the cave. "It isn't smart to steal from ghosts." He could feel the ghosts moving around deeper inside of the cave. But something seemed odd to him. Usually the more powerful Spector would drive the weaker wisps out of its territory, perhaps even destroy them, but they were all there in one place, as if the Spector was not territorial of it's own haunting grounds.

"Hey Ginta?" Dorothy said cheerfully but the young boy just stared into the cave with a determined face. "Your face is scary. Could it be that you're mad?"

"Of course!" Ginta nearly shouted confusing Dorothy who had meant that he was mad at her. "When I was in grade school, I loved building plastic model kits. Kits from the Anime, 'Fighter Robot'. I put a lot of work into one, and the day after I finished it, I took it to school. Then... the strongest guy in the class broke it. I got pissed and fought against him, but since I was so weak, I got beaten up. It was so humiliating. It was more humiliating to not have the strength to get revenge than to have my model broken. And I never wanted to make one after that."

But then a small smile came over Ginta's face. "But then, a childhood friend of mine, Koyuki, who helped me, said, 'let's make another one, Ginta. If you stop making them just because he broke one, then you've lost to him in every way!'" Ginta said remembering his friend. "After I heard that, I decided to make another one. I know a plastic model kit is really different compared to a whole town, but I don't want those people to give up."

"How nice, friendship between boys. That Koyuki must be as cute as you are." Dorothy said smiling at her innocent little friend.

Danny could remember a simular situation in his life involving a model space ship and Sam. The bitter sweet memories of the childhood friend who betrayed him stung as he listened to the story.

"Huh? Koyuki is a girl." Ginta said confused by Dorothy's assumption about his friend.

"Oh, he's a girl?" Dorothy said cheerfully, but then those words sank in and her cheerful expression faded a little.

"You said that Koyuki is a girl from Earth who looks like Princess Snow right?" Danny said trying to get his mind away from his own past. "Interesting how their names also mean the same thing as well."

"I guess, but that's why I want to beat the Chess Pieces here. I want to be like Koyuki was on that day." Ginta said before walking slowly into the cave.

"Wait a second, Ginta." Dorothy said chasing after him. "Who is this childhood girl friend of yours? Who is she? What does she mean to you? Ginta?" The witch pouted as they moved into the cave. After a short moment Danny and Nanashi followed them.

* * *

"This is a freaky place." Dorothy commented as they moved further into the cave. A noise behind her caused Dorothy to turn her head. "What was that?" A wisp passed a few inches in front of her face. The witch freaked out and grabbed onto Ginta around his neck half chocking him.

"So the stories about the ghosts was true." Nanashi said not seeming to be too terribly concerned about them as the wisps moved around him. "There's a creepy feeling around here that's different from magical power."

"It's the wisps' ecto-signatures." Danny said as he watch one go by.

"Dorothy, even though you're a witch, you're afraid of ghosts?" Ginta asked his witch friend.

"You're not scared?" Dorothy asked her younger crush.

"No, I think it's pretty cool. I never got to see ghosts while on Earth." Ginta said grinning.

"Consider yourself lucky than." Danny said walking ahead of them. "Most of the ghost's on Earth were not this dossal, or this weak. If you just walked right into one's lair like this, they would probably had either thrown you out or just simply killed you."

Ginta gulped. "I forgot, you had to deal with ghosts a lot, your some kind of expert on them, right Danny?" Ginta asked.

Danny nodded. "You could say I'm an expert. You don't really need to worry about these guys. They're weak and aren't aggressive, almost shockingly so in both regards. They're harmless, unless you listen to them for too long. The language of the dead can have a negative effect on the living if they listen to it for too long. But that takes a few days to start showing signs." After a few more passes they reached a three way fork on the road.

"Which way do you think the Chess Pieces went?" Ginta said looking down each one.

"Want me to ask?" Danny said looking at the nearest wisp.

"Ask who? There is no one here but those creepy ghosts." Dorothy said shivering.

"That's who I meant." Danny said flatly.

"Can you really do that?" Ginta asked Danny excitedly.

"I know the language of the dead, so it shouldn't be too hard. These guys are a little simple though. All they have been talking about since we got here is the sea." Danny admitted scratching his neck.

"You actually speak ghost? You're pretty weird kid." Nanashi said chuckling a bit.

"But won't they curse you?" Dorothy said nervously.

"Not likely. I don't think they are strong enough for a curse, and it really wouldn't do them much good anyways. After all, if someone is here to steal something from them and we are here to stop them, why curse us?" Danny reason before speaking to the wisp. "_Excuse me, can you lend us your aid?_" he asked.

The wisp froze and dozens of them came out of the walls and swarmed around Danny causing Dorothy to scream in fright. "_You can speak to us, who are you child?_" One of the wisps asked.

"_My name is Danny, I'm a half ghost from another world. My friends and I are trying to track down three Chess Pieces who entered you lair. They destroyed the town of Vestry and are trying to steal the hidden ARM from your cave. Can you tell use which path we need to go down to find them?_" Danny said using the language of the dead.

Astonished words came from all of the wisps and it took a while to get them calmed down. Eventually only one of them spoke. "_A Chess Piece went down each of the paths, but if they seek our lady's key then they will not have it. No matter how hard they search._" The wisp said. "_We will lead you and your friends to them, but in exchange you must do something for us._"

"_What do you need?_" Danny asked.

"_Set us free!_" All the wisps sang as they circled the ghostboy. "_Send our ship out to sea and break the curse that binds us here._"

"_I assume that means you are going to lead me to your ship._" Danny said nodding. "_I will do what I can to help you move pass on._" It made sense now that the ghosts were so dossal. They were not bound to the world by there own unwillingness to pass on, but because of another power.

Danny turned to his group. "They said that a Chess Piece went down each of the three passages, and they will show us the way." Danny explained to his crept out teammates.

"How can you trust them?" Nanaish asked looking unsure of them.

"I trust ghosts more than I trust humans." Danny said before following his ghost down the left most side passage. His three teammates stood shocked for a little while before choosing there own side passages.

* * *

Danny talked to the ghosts as he went. They seemed to be sailors how were killed and trapped inside of the underground lake by the Chess Pieces. Apparently there really was a hidden ARM, and that the Chess Pieces feared it enough to seal them way with it. But the wisps honestly had no clue what it even did.

Danny described the Ghost Zone for the wisps who had never been outside of their cave since their deaths. The stories of the strange world excited them with longing after the years stuck to the underground lake.

"_You all probably won't go to the Ghost Zone though. It's many for the spirits who don't want to move on yet, not for people who are cursed. I assume that you all will go to whatever heaven exists for all the spirits who accept that there time has come, once your curse is gone._" Danny explained to the spirits.

"_Thank you._" Most of the wisps echoed. They exited the tunnel that had been in and entered a large underground lake. In the middle of it was a large glowing ship.

But before Danny could get to work breaking the curse he felt a strong magical power. "I know your there Chess Piece! Come out!" Danny shouted angrily. A boy the same size as Danny with spiked dark blue hair and freaky black eyes with a third white eye in the center of his forehead came out onto the deck of the ship.

"What, just one?" He asked seemingly unimpressed. "And he's a kid too."

"Hello pot my name is kettle, have we meet?" Danny said matching the new guys smug attitude.

"Just who the hell're you?" The boy asked.

"Isn't it polite to introduce yourself before asking for another's name?" Danny said chuckling.

The Chess Pieces glared. "I'm Giromu from the Chess Pieces, Bishop class." He said. "You'd better be ready to die."

"Giromu huh?" Danny said a cold note in his voice. "Are you the one who destroyed Vestry?"

"The one who did the majority of the destruction was Oruko. I'm more of a killer." Giromu said with some sick pride. "I especially go after women." Danny bit down hard and his eyes flared green, though he was to far way from Giromu for him to notice. "I wanted to spend some more time torturing the villagers, but I came here to search for the ARM in this underground lake. But there's nothing like that on this ship! Did you find any ARMs on the way here? You're a guy, so if you give me that, I'll leave you only half dead."

"Little late for that dumb ass." Danny said angrily. Danny's magical power built up stronger and stronger, fueled by his and his ARM's mixed rage and desire to protect the rest of the spirits and villagers. The first stone on the Ancient Gantlet began to glow and his Aura Guard formed around him. "I won't let you get away with this."

Giromu grinned a psychotic grin. "I don't like your attitude." He said lifting up a ARM ring on his right hand. "Nature ARM; Iced Earth!" Chunks of ice appeared and flew at Danny.

Danny jumped over them and the lake, straight onto the ghost boat behind Giromu. "An ice user huh? You don't seem that strong. Snow's technique was better." Danny said mockingly as he dropped into a battle ready stance. "I think it's high time someone give you a spanking, you brat."

The Chess Pieces glared and launched another Iced Earth attack which Danny easily dodged. Danny quickly closed the distance between them and smacked the other kid across the face sending him into the mast of the ship. "I'm Danny, member of Team MAR. And the one who is going to be teaching you some manners."

Giromu was stunned. 'His magical power is on the same level as mine? How, he's just a human kid?' The Chess Pieces thought angrily and he grabbed onto his right wrist and forming a claw of ice over his hand. "Iced Claw!" He shouted and rushed Danny.

Danny neatly parried the attack and punched Giromu hard in the gut knocking him back into the mast a second time. Giromu was left gasping for breath. "You're too slow to stand up to me in a fight." Danny said simply looking at the Chess Pieces as if he was filth.

"I... I won't lose!" Giromu shouted. He lifted his hand above his head. "Iced Earth!" He shouted concentrating all of the ice into one giant bolder above him.

"I tell you that your too slow and you use an even slower attack?" Danny said shaking his head. His gantlet began to glow as his Aura Guard disappeared. "Version 2; Spirit Cannon." He pointed his glove cannon at the chunk of ice. "Narrow focus lense, power output at 12%." Danny said as the glove began to glow. "Fire!" The blast of energy was not as large as when he had used it against Ian, but it was much stronger. It hit the large piece of ice and shattered it into a million pieces.

Giromu backed away in fear, his strongest attack had just been countered with ease. "Let me go. Please spare me." He begged as Danny's ARM charge up another shot. "I won't kill anyone anymore."

"What did you do to the people in Vestry who asked you to spare their lives?" Danny said his eyes blazing green. The sight of those eyes made Giromu shiver. How could he have ever thought that this boy was human. Giromu started to chuckle in his maddened state of fear. "Fly away, and reflect on your actions! Wide focus lense, 12% power output!" Danny shouted pointing his glove straight at the Chess Pieces. "Fire!"

A wide blast nearly as big as Giromu's whole body hit him dead on. It picked in up and sent in flying across the underground lake splashing against the surface again and against before he sank into the water. "Now that that's over." Danny said as the wisps returned. But another spirit came with them. One strong enough to force Danny to hiccup some white mist.

It was the spirit of a beautiful woman, as a ghost she was completely white with long hair and a flowing dress. She looked down at Danny with a gentle smile. "Hello." She said using human speech, showing that she was powerful enough to retain much of the knowledge from her life. "The others say that you have come to help break our curse, is that correct?" The woman asked.

Danny nodded. "Yes, that's right." He said a little in awe of the woman. She was a very gentle spirit as far as he could sense. Her core was most likely one of ice, which formed within kind and gentle souls, or wind, which were considered the rarest of all, as few ghosts are born from love.

She smiled. "You look so much like Tom did when we first met. He was also a very kind person... until the queen turned him into the Phantom." The woman said seeming saddened. Danny's eyes widened. "Though I suppose you are even like Tom in that respect, though you still have your humanity."

"You... know the Phantom of this world?" Danny asked.

"Yes. Tom and I were going to get married eight years ago. But then he was branded with the zombie tattoo. He lost sight of what was important and started to believe that all living thing needed to be destroyed in order to purify the world." The woman said. "I tried to reason with him, but when I threatened to leave him, he killed me and the crew of the ship I was on and sealed us away in this place."

"Why would he do something like that?" Danny asked disgusted.

"Out of love I suppose." The woman said shocking the young Phantom. "In his own way he still did love me. And even though he has changed, he is still the man I loved. Even after killing me and cursing us to this place, he still came almost everyday. Though I suppose he must have lost to Boss during his War Games. He stopped coming for six years. But he has recently started coming again." She clasped her hands before her. "I know that even if the curse is broken that I will still linger on, but the others are innocent in all this. Please, set them free and I will give you the ARM that I have been guarding."

"Alright." Danny nodded. "What do I have to do?"

"Destroy the wall and let our ship travel out to sea. Do that and the curse will be lifted." The woman said pointing towards a wall straight in front of the ship.

Danny nodded. He looked at the wall. "Here I go." He said lifting up his cannon glove. "Normal lense, power output 12%... 25%... 50%." He said trembling a bit as the power built up. "Fire!" The blast was far stronger than any of his others he had used since leaving the training gate, but it didn't get the job done. A small layer of rock fell away but it was not really enough to punch a hole to the outside.

"I suppose... we hoped for too much." The ghost woman said the wisps around her were crying in desperation.

Danny was panting a little from the shot but at hearing the cries of the innocent spirits he resolved to try again. "No... I'm not done yet." He said and a pearly white ring of light appeared around his waist and passed over him. His skin paled and his hair turned white. The wisps went crazy as they sensed his power growing.

The woman's eyes widened as she looked down on the ghostboy. "Tom..." She whispered but Danny couldn't hear her.

"Normal lense, power output at 12%... 25%... 50%... 80%... 100%..." His arms were shaking with the strain of all the power he was pushing into the glove. He could remember what Snow had told him in the training gate.

'Danny, you've created a very powerful Weapon ARM, but it is very dangerous to use.' She had said. 'It's power seems limitless as long as you continue to pour your magical power into it, but if you over do it than you could drain your mental power. Worst case scenario, your mind is destroyed forever. So please don't over do it.'

"Sorry Snow... but this is for a good cause... Max power output limit broken. 110%... 125%... 150%." Danny said pushing as hard as he could. His glove was shining like a green sun in the dark underground cave. The spirits were whispering in amazement. "Spirit Cannon... Fire!" Danny shouted and let the flood gates open.

* * *

Snow had just finished healing her tenth patient, a man who had had part of a building collapse on his arm. The princess was only just starting to get tired. Her training with Danny had greatly improved her endurance for using ARM. It was one of the things that Danny stressed on the most in their training.

"It doesn't hurt anymore. And I can move it." The man who had a broken arm until just that moment said in amazement.

"That's her tenth person! To even heal a broken bone, what an amazing ARM!" One of the people who had gathered around her said.

Snow was panting a little and Ed the dog was worried. "Princess, please take a break. You're looking pale, and your mental power won't last." The dog warned.

"No." Snow said sharply leaving no room for argument.

"Oh no, the princess's stubborn side is coming out!" Ed shouted.

"Ed, if you bother me again, I'll freeze you in a block of ice." Snow said with a smile on her face causing the dog to back away and cry. "Besides, the others went into the cave. I can't let them all down." She said as she got to work on another person.

"Do you really think your friends can beat those Chess Piece guys?" One of the villagers asked.

"Don't worry. They will be fine." Snow said sounding more sure than she was. Then a large boom could be heard and a stream of green light poured out from the side of the rock formation. Some of the villages were scared until they heard Snow say. "Danny told me that he wouldn't do that. Honestly he's going to ware himself out." She said turning back to her patient.

"You should think about that too, princess." Ed mumbled though he was shocked by the explosion.

"What was that, Ed?" Snow asked a sharp note to her voice.

"Nothing, princess." Ed said quickly.

* * *

The blast has blown a hole in the wall large enough for the ship to sail through. Danny had fallen backwards from exhaustion the white ring passing over him, returning him to his human form. "Well that was tiring... Hope Snow... didn't see that or... she'll have my head." Danny joked as he panted for air.

The ghost woman flouted in front of him. "Thank you." She said gently and then she reached out and placed three small objects in his hand. A strangely shaped metal key that must have been some kind of ARM and two magic stones. "Here is the Key ARM, and two magic stones. I hope that they serve you well." The woman said smiling down at him.

"It was nothing really." Danny said rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm sure you would have done it too if you could have." The woman chuckled. "Um... can you tell me what this ARM does?"

The woman shuck her head. "I'm afraid that I do not know. Tom gave it to me back before the zombie tattoo changed him. He said that it was very important but that he didn't have time to explain. The next time I saw him... he was changed and demanding that I return it. He seemed to fear its power." She said sadly. She started to flout away. "I'm sorry, but I must go now. Good luck, Danny." She said and then disappeared from sight.

Danny smiled, but then he felt a sudden flare of ghostly power. It was nothing like the woman's presents. It was dark and full of hatred and blood lust. Danny turned towards it but it was already gone. "Was it... just my imagination?" He wondered before starting to walk back to find the others who had entered the cave.

He didn't notice a young man around twenty years old with bleach white hair smiling from behind a pillar. "Oh, first Ginta, and now this boy. I suppose that means that Halloween was telling the truth." The man said shivering with excitement. "This coming War Game will be very very interesting."


	9. Chapter 9

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

After having left the cave the team was greeted as conquering heroes and a party had been planned for that night. Snow had gotten on Danny's case about breaking the 25% limit she had set for him on his Spirit Cannon. He choose not to tell her that he had broken the 100% cap. Danny gave Ginta one of the two magic stones since they both still had open slots.

There was plenty of food since Jacks vegetables grew like Undergrowth's weeds and had completely overrun the once dead fields. People we laughing and goofing around since there hope had been rekindled. Ginta was telling anyone who would listen how they were going to save the world of MAR and how the people shouldn't give up hope. Nanashi was flirting with at least three girls at once, while Snow was drinking a strange drink that Danny was pretty sure was alcoholic.

But Danny himself was sitting alone separated from the rest of them. He had needed to think and was hardly touching his food. The evil feeling he had sensed right before leaving the cave was weighing on his mind. The spirit of the woman, since Danny never actually got her name, had told him that Phantom stopped visiting her after he died at the end of the War Games, but that he had started coming again. Could that presence he had sensed been the Phantom of this world. His power had seemed to be completely opposite of Danny's own, and if Danny was honest with himself, much stronger.

"Why aren't you partying like everyone else?" Dorothy asked as she walked over and sat down with Danny.

"I could as you the same thing." Danny joked though his face was still solemn and his eyes were looking towards the caves.

"Parties are not really my thing." The witch said with a shrug. "Besides, I didn't even get to fight one of the Chess Pieces because Nanashi felt like being a glory hog." She said throwing a glare to were the womanizer was laying down with three young women in his arms. "What's your excuse."

Danny was silent for a second but then he started with. "He killed her." This shocked Dorothy a little since there wasn't much context. "Phantom killed his own lover and bond her soul to that cave along with dozens of innocent civilians that just happened to be in his way. What kind of monster would do something like that."

"How do... the ghosts told you that?" Dorothy asked and Danny nodded.

"She said that he used to visit her every day and that he was once a kind man before he was marked by the zombie tattoo." Danny said. "I think she still loves him. Even after everything he's done. Why... Why does he get to be loved?" Danny didn't even realize there there was bitter jealousy in his voice until after he was done saying it. "So what are you doing outside of the Land of the Witches anyways? Ed said that witches usually don't leave even if the rest of MAR is going to hell."

"Well that dog should learn to shut up." Dorothy said angrily. "And as for why I'm here, a girl needs to have some secrets doesn't she?" Dorothy said playfully, but her eyes were even colder than Danny's.

"I guess so." Danny said not wanting to pry.

A moment passed before something interrupted the silence. "Snow Kick!" Snow shouted as she jumped up from behind Danny and aimed a kick at his head. Danny neatly leaned to the side and scooped the princess out of the air mid kick, holding her bridle style.

"If you want to sneak up on someone, you shouldn't shout." Danny said as the princess flailed around in his arms.

"Danny!..." Snow pouted loudly in a more childish than usual voice. "I'm bored, but you're only talking to Dorothy. Spend time with me!..."

"Looks like the little Missy has had to much Pupura juice." Nanashi laughed at the girl's antics earning him a mug to the face thrown by the little Missy.

Snow scowled at him as the whole village laughed at the bandit's misfortune. Then Snow turned to Danny again as she was still in his arms and asked. "Danny, can we do it?" It was as if a bomb shell went off. People were laughing everywhere and Danny was completely flustered.

"No! Princess you can't say things like that!" Ed shouted, Jack nodding in agreement.

"Quiet you two. Or I'll freeze you." Snow said giggling causing them to back away in fear. Then she turned back to Danny and continued to pout. "Come on, we did it ever night when we were alone back in the training gate."

"Wow, I didn't know you two kids were so far along." Dorothy giggling at the two. "Ginta, why haven't we done it yet?" She teased the blond boy who was shocked at seeing Snow the way she was and hearing that she and Danny 'did it'.

"Oh!" Danny said finally realizing what the princess meant. "Sure, we can do that." He said to the horror of Ed and Jack. But their horror disappeared as Danny set the princess down and reached into his dimensional bag and pulled out his guitar.

"Yay!" Snow shouted laughing all the while. Danny started to strick some cords and tuning his instrument.

"What, you mean you can actually play the guitar?" Ginta asked surprised.

Danny chuckled. "What, did you think it was only a bludgeoning weapon?" He asked causing Ginta to laugh too.

Then Danny started to play and the whole camp went silent. It wasn't a complicated song to play but it did have a soothing effect. Then Danny started to sing.

_I remember tears streaming down you face when I said, I'll never let you go_

_When all those shadows almost took your light..._

_I remember you say, don't leave me here alone_

_But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight..._

Team MAR was pretty surprised to hear Danny singing. But it was even more surprising when Snow joined in. Her voice was pretty and rich, despite her being drunk.

_Just close your eyes_

_The sun is going down_

_You'll be alright..._

_No one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light_

_You and I'll be safe.. and.. sound..._

The song continued for two more minutes and by the end Snow was nodding off to sleep, nearly in the middle of her own line.

Danny helped Ed lay her down on some blankets while the party continued. "She seems so peaceful." Ed said as the girl slept soundly. "The last few days, she's been happier than I had seen her since we fled the palace." The dog started chocking up. "She's been so scare, and yet she was always worrying about others."

"I know what you mean. The first few days in the training gate she was finding it hard to sleep, so I started playing her lullabies every night." Danny said patting the sleeping princess's head. "She's just a fourteen year old girl, but she's trying to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders. This world's not good enough to deserve a ruler like her."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ed grumbled.

"Dress it up however you want. But the Chess Pieces aren't some foreign invaders." Danny said bitterly. "They are your own people. They even work for your queen. You think that a world that produces people like the Chess Pieces deserves a gentle soul like Snow's? Her own people are the ones that hunt her. And yet she wants to save them. Ginta keeps going on about how this is a beautiful and amazing world, but he's just fooling himself." Ed looked to the ground crestfallen. Danny sighed. "Though I guess Earth and the GZ aren't any better. A world is a world, evil is evil."

"But the question that will define the future of this world is; is a Phantom, a Phantom?" Ed said looking at Danny who didn't offer a response. "The man inside me trust you, Snow trusts you, Ginta seems to trust you. But I don't. You are the same type of thing as Phantom. How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Don't know? Do you really have a chose?" Danny asked back causing Ed to look to the ground again. "I'm not asking you to trust me. I don't even need you to. Just watch, and I'll show you who I am." Ed couldn't think of anything else to say. What could he say? He didn't like Danny, but he had to admit that Danny was strong, and unlike the others he seemed to be familiar with real combat. He was probably their best hope for overcoming the Chess Pieces in the War Games and beating Phantom. So Ed just got up and walked off.

Snow started to shift around in her sleep. "Mommy... Daddy..." She muttered clearly having a nightmare.

Danny placed a hand on her head. "It's alright, Snow. I'll watch over you." Danny said softly. "Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I'll be safe. and. sound..." Danny sang softly as Snow settled back down.

* * *

Dorothy was still at the edge of the party looking in as if she didn't belong. But Nanashi came up behind her. "It's times like this that make you remember that they are just kids." He said as they watched Ginta, Jack, and Babbo goofing off with some of the village children while Danny sat near the sleeping Snow like a faithful guard dog. "Hard to believe that they both took down Bishop class Chess Pieces just earlier today."

"I'm not surprised." Dorothy said shrugging. "I trained Ginta and Jack myself. And even if Jack is a moron, they both have a good amount of potential. Ginta's magical power grew faster than anyone I have ever seen before... But that Danny kid... he's another sort entirely."

"You sensed it to then?" Nanashi said glancing at the witch from underneath his bandanna.

The pink haired witch scoffed. "Of course I sensed it. How could I not sense it? His magical power grew to a level beyond my own for a few moments down in that cave." Dorothy said putting a finger to her chin. "I've heard legends about the power of those from the otherworld, but it should take a lot more than just one six month trip in a training gate to become that powerful, or else Ginta would also be there at that same level."

"Let's just be glad that he's on our side." Nanashi said leaning back and putting his hands behind his head. He was basking in the warmth of the party until he noticed the moon. His eyes widened. "Everyone!" He shouted getting everyone's attention, Princess Snow sat up with a start blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "The moon, it's like a mirror!" Nanashi shouted pointing at the moon.

And as the clouds cleared the rest of them could see it too. The moon showed an image of a creepy looking man in a black cloak with a more pin like robe hat. The man had yellowish skin and the one eye he showed didn't look healthy. There were words of panic through the crowd.

"To all those in MAR who hold a hatred toward us Chess Pieces." The man in the moon said, his voice sounding surprisingly normal considering he wasn't really there and he looked like some kind of rat. "We will begin the War Games yet again!"

"I knew they'd do this." Ed said. Others in the village were saying similar things all in hushed, scared voices.

"It will be held just west of the center of MAR, at Reginrave Castle." The man in the moon said. "Those who desire a battle with us, gather at that castle, which we have already prepared." A map appeared in the moon with instructions on how to get there. "We have not forgotten our enmity from six years ago! If no one appears, we'll turn MAR into hell!" The image of the man returned with a huge grin that made him look even weirder. "We'll be waiting for humans who will amuse us. Especially you, Babbo, being Phantom's ARM, and yet betraying the Chess Pieces. And its owner. That goes for the other Phantom who chooses to side against the Chess Pieces as well." Danny's expression hardened and Snow looked worried.

"Don't worry Snow, it doesn't matter what they know. We'll beat them all the same." Danny said grinning as he noticed her looking at him. She smiled and nodded.

"The game starts the day after tomorrow at noon. We'll be waiting." And with that the man in the moon vanished and the moon returned to normal.

"Lets go." Snow said loud enough to get all the members of team MAR's attention. "To Reginrave Castle." She said seriously, no more signs of her drunken state.

"Ye...yeah." Jack said nervously. "So no other place has to go through what Vestry went through... But then, can I do it when I was merely growing vegetables until the other day?"

"Don't talk like that Jack." Danny said standing behind Snow. "No second guessing. We will do it. It's that simple."

"With the Cross Guard dysfunctional, we can't look forward to too many people gathering at Reginrave Castle, however we have no choice but to go." Ed said.

"Who needs the Cross Guard? Now that you have me?" Nanashi said cocky as ever.

"I doubt you guys will let me get out of this, so I'm going too." Dorothy said proudly.

"Ginta!" One of the villagers shouted. "We'll restore this village to the best of our abilities."

"May we entrust this world's fate to you?" Another asked.

"As pathetic as it sounds, we don't have any power." Said a third. "But if it's you people who have the power to fight the Chess Pieces, you can give courage and hope to all of MAR."

"May we entrust the War Games to you? Ginta?" The second man asked.

Ginta grinned and nodded. "Leave it to us!" Cheers and shouts went through what was left of the village. Danny and Snow watched as Ginta was thrown into the air by the towns people who saw him as a hero.

"He sure does know how to work up a crowd." Danny said a little in awe.

"Ginta really is good at that kind of thing." Snow agreed. "Stirring up people's forgotten love of the world. Given them hope that truth and justice always wins in the end." Snow said chuckling. "That's Ginta's power. He gives people hope." Then she looked at Danny. "But... you're the one that gives me courage." She said embarrassing him. "Danny, thank you for everything."

Danny smiled. "Sure thing, Snow." He said the were pretty close to each other, but neither of them noticed. Tomorrow was going to be the day in which everything began.

* * *

It was almost noon on the day of the start of the War Games and things were looking bleak for the people of Reginrave Castle. The Cross Guard had yet to arrive and most of the normal guards that were still alive were injured from the Chess Pieces original attack. The few families that were remaining in the area had fled to the castle for safety since it would be a haven from Chess Piece attacks while the War Games were still in section. But if no one came to participate in the war games, then they would be the first to die.

"It's almost noon." One of the injured soldiers commented.

"Yeah, no one's coming." Another said in despair.

"Is this castle going to be torn down too?" Another asked worried.

"Of course. Sooner or later, all of MAR's going to be taken over by the Chess Pieces." The first guard said miserably.

But then cheers came from near the gate bridge. "The Cross Guard! The Cross Guard is here!"

"This many Cross Guard came!" Someone shouted in joy. A old man with gray hair in a brue uniform walked through the gates. He was easily distinguished among the group. "And look, it's the third man. Gaira!"

"The hero of the previous War Games! He's the one that brought victory to us along with Boss and Allan!" Another man shouted. More and more cheers went through the people who had gathered.

A boy with dark blue hair walked up before Gaira. The boy was around 16 with a white long sleeve shirt that covered a cursed tattoo. On his belt was a chain ARM, his 13 totem pole. On his shoulder was a small fairy with brighter blue hair. It took a moment for Gaira to recognize the boy but when he did he smiled at his old apprentice. "Alviss, it looks like Allan is not here." He said seriously. "I heard you've met him already."

A sad look passed over Alviss's face. He had seen Allan already, or the human form of Ed. But Allan hadn't gone to fight the Chess Pieces during their attack on the world. Allan had acted like a coward in the eyes of the young Cross Guard. Though Alviss hadn't realized that he had stayed behind so that he could keep the training gates open for Ginta and his friends.

"He's not com..." Alviss started but the sound of a certain loud mouthed kid cut him off.

"Did we make it in time!?" Ginta shouted as he ran through the gate into Reginrave Castle. Alviss was dumb struck at the appearance of Ginta. He had been the one who had used the Gatekeeper Clown which had brought Ginta to the world of MAR, but Alviss himself had quickly decide not to waste his time with the kid and left him to his own devices. "Man, this is a huge castle." Ginta said as he friends joined him. It just showed that his mind sight had not changed that much, even though the war had started.

"It looks very governmental." Snow agreed looking around.

"Maybe, but this place has probably seen better days." Danny said pulling Snow to one side as a bit of wall nearly collapsed on her. "But it doesn't even make the top ten of the most depressing castles I've ever been in."

"I've been here once to steal stuff before, so it was within Andarta's range." Nanashi said putting his hands behind his head.

"You go everywhere, don't you?" Ed said sarcastically.

"So, were are the Chess Pieces?" Dorothy asked looking around.

Jack looked around until he spotted Alviss. "Ahhh!" He shouted pointing at the older boy.

"Yo Alviss, long time no see." Ginta said greeting the Cross Guard member. He clearly had no grudge from there last meeting in which Alviss had turned Jack into a bird, beaten up Ginta, threatened to destroy Babbo, but then changed his mind and left because Ginta's powers of hope had convinced him to get Babbo a chance.

"Y... yeah." Alviss said. The thing that shocked Alviss the most was Ginta's magical power. It was easily on Bishop level even though Ginta had had no magical powers when they had last seen each other the week before.

"I still haven't forgiven him for turning me into a bird." Jack said angrily.

"Me neither, since he said something about destroying me." Babbo agreed.

"Where I come from, those are considered pleasantries. Like talking about the weather, or asking about how the kids are doing." Danny said crossing his arms. "You two need to stop sweating the small stuff."

"Danny, I think you have a weird definition of the small things." Snow giggled.

"Gaira, it looks like Allan is here." Alviss said pointing at Ed the dog. Gaira didn't seem to understand, as if he thought it was a bad joke.

The tower bells began to ring signaling noon and a beautiful woman with long black hair in a white dress walked out onto a balcony. "Everyone, thank you for coming to Reginrave." She said solemnly. "We sincerely welcome you."

"Princess!" Several of the onlookers shouted in admiration.

"Princess?" Ginta questioned not understanding why the princess was greeting them to the War Games.

"She is the Princess of Reginrave." One of the guards said.

"Why the princess here?" Ginta asked.

"I'd guess she doesn't have a chose." Danny said nearby. "She was probably given the ultimatum of put on a pretty show for the Chess Pieces or they kill everyone at the castle." Danny seemed to just be accepting that that was how things worked. But Ginta was practically enraged by the injustice. Snow couldn't believe how different there reactions were.

"We will now start the War Games." Princess Reginrave said as a large table appeared covered in red magical orbs. "But first, we will have a test to see if you are suitable for participating in the games. Those who are participating, please pick up a Magic Stone from that table."

Ginta was the first to grab one, quickly followed by Danny and Snow. But soon all the Cross Guard and team MAR had one, with the exception of Ed the dog who couldn't fight out of his human form.

After everyone had an orb the princess spoke a few short words. "Began the test." All of the magic stones began to glow and each of the participants were teleported way.

* * *

Danny found himself in a green swirling dimension. "Wow, I feel at home." Danny joked as he waited for something to happen. He didn't have to wait very long before a pawn was teleported in. It was a muscle bound idiot with large metal claw like ARM that would restrict his arm movement, even if they did act as arm guards. He was bold and had on one of the stander pawn masks. "You got to be kidding me? A pawn. One little pawn." Danny complained as the pawn rushed him.

Danny didn't even activate his ARM. He side stepped the pawn's assault, grabbed his arm and pulled him into a knee to the stomach. And then while the pawn was bending over, attempting to gasp for air through his mask, Danny laced his hands together and smashed down on the back of the pawn's head, sending him to the invisible ground for the count.

"Too easy." Danny said as he felt himself being teleported away again.

* * *

"They're coming back!" Ed the dog said excitedly as lights appeared in front of him. Moments later all of Team MAR and Alviss were standing in front of them.

"Piece of cake." Jack said holding up victory signs.

"Is everyone ok?" Snow asked concerned as always.

"It wasn't even a warm-up." Nanashi joked putting his arms behind his head.

Ginta was smiling at his team until he noticed that Alviss was looking all around desperately. "What's wrong, Alviss?" Ginta asked.

"None of the Cross Guard are back. Even Gaira isn't back." Alviss pointed out. And it was true. Out of all the Cross Guard, only Alviss returned.

Someone else started teleporting in and after the light cleared a small purple humanoid creature with two horns dress in a wizards hat was standing in front of them. "That has got to be the fourth most pathetic minion I have ever seen." Danny said looking at the goblin thing.

The goblin thing started to cackle. "Looks like everyone else couldn't make it back. This year's Cross Guard was no good." It said rudely. "I wonder if the strong ones died in the previous battles defending their cities. They were all garbage, no better than pawns."

"You... have no respect for the dead." Danny growled, his eyes flashing green. Snow grabbed onto his arm to stop him from doing something stupid. "Those people died for what they believed in. Could you say the same if we decided to kill you right now?" The goblin gulped and backed away a little.

"Danny, please save it for the games." Snow said but it was clear that she was upset too.

Alviss had more pressing concerns. "Where's Gaira? It's impossible for him to lose to a pawn."

The goblin began to cackle again. "Who said there were only pawns?" The goblin said. Light appeared next to him and a masked man with gelled up green hair stood next to the goblin. He had a knight earring piece. "There was one special Magic Stone that went to one unlucky person. He must have been that one."

"You're lying." Danny said glaring at the goblin. "I'm the most unlucky person in at least three worlds. There is no way that I wouldn't have been the one to grab that stone if it wasn't rigged." The goblin just laughed, feeling a lot safer with the knight standing next to him.

Lights appeared next to Alviss and Gaira reappeared sporting a terrible injury. "Alviss." Gaira panted.

"Gaira!" Alviss shouted seeing the condition of his teacher.

"This was unexpected... for me to be disqualified before the games started." Gaira said still in great pain. Snow ran up and started to heal him.

"He sure is the third in command from six years ago, that Gaira. He's alive after a battle with Chimera. I'll commend him for that. So..." The goblin said looking over the group. "Only these seven are the ones that passed."

"Count me too!" Babbo demanded but was ignored.

"So few. Didn't we have about 30 Cross Guards in the last games?" The goblin said. "And you're just a bunch of children. Phantom won't have fun with this."

"Make him have fun? We'll freak him out!" Ginta said pumping his fist. "Start the game already!"

"Don't get so excited." The goblin said chuckling. "Today was just the preliminaries. The War Games will start tomorrow. Have a wonderful night and savor the greatness of your remaining lives."

"I hate that thing." Danny muttered loudly. "I can already tell he's going to cheat all the time." But the others were more silent.

"Just the seven of us." Jack finally said depressed. "The War Games with just us? To be honest, I'm getting scared, Ginta."

"Danny..." Snow said grabbing onto Danny's sleeve. Worry was clear in her chocolate colored eyes. "Are we going to be alright?"

Danny just grinned. "None of that talk. We've already decided we are going to win haven't we. So we will just have to give it our all and find a way. And if we somehow lose, then we will find a way to save MAR anyways." Danny said confidently. Snow smiled as Danny's confidence boosted her own. "Don't worry, I'm right here with you."

"Thanks Danny." Snow said quietly.

* * *

Later that night inside of Regenrave castle the princess led them to a large rooms where they could stay, one for all the boy's and one of each of the girls. "Please spend the night here." She said still being the picture royal princess.

"Hey, you're this castle's Princess, right?" Nanashi said already crashing on one of the beds. "Why did you give the intro for the War Games?"

"It's for the sake of my citizens. If I do not follow their orders, the lives of those outside would be in jeopardy." The Princess said confirming Danny's suspicions. "In order to protect them, I'm willing to do anything. I am their Princess, after all." She finished with a sad smile.

Danny glanced at Snow who's eyes were downcast at the older Princess's words. "Yes, you're right." Snow said.

"Just remember that you don't have to do it alone, Princess Snow." Danny said causing Snow to blush.

Snow looked around and smiled. "Ed, have you noticed?" Snow said smiling.

"Yes, Princess." The dog said. "The seven people who would help you protect MAR." He said before starting to list them off. "Alviss, Danny, Dorothy, Ginta, Jack, Nanashi, and the man inside of me, Allan."

"I'm sure it will turn out just as the oracle said." Snow said smiling. "We will save all of MAR."

* * *

**The song was 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift.**

**Yes, people still view Ginta as the savior type more than Danny. He is more up beat and cheerful. Danny is more deep and independent.**

**Round one of the War Games is starting next chapter, and I will not be writing every fight in the same level of detail as they happen in the Anime/Manga since that would take forever and you can all just go look them up if you are interested.**


	10. Chapter 10

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

The next day hundreds of people had gathered to witness the War Games, though when they first saw the team they started to lose hope. The oldest person on the team was the eighteen year old Nanashi followed by Dorothy at seventeen and the numbers just went down from there.

The goblin thing was back and waiting for them in the same spot as the day before. "Good morning, did you all sleep well last night?" He said in an ironic greeting.

"It was a great night." Ginta said honestly grinning. "It had been a long time since I've had a bed."

Danny of course had not slept at all. It was one of the advantages of half ghosts, they didn't need sleep unless they exhausted all of the energy in their cores. Danny had actually spent the night guarding Snow's room in case of foul play.

"That's great to hear." The goblin laughed. "Then I will now explain the rules for the War Games."

"There are rules?" Ginta asked Nanashi.

"It is a game after all, so there should be." Nanashi said with a shrug as he scratched his head.

"Battles are coordinated by teams, and the number of people is decided by a dice roll, as while as the field of battle." The goblin said and then looked over the group. "What's your name?" He asked Jack.

"It... it's Jack!" Jack said seeming like a monkey again.

"Jack huh?" The goblin repeated to make sure he had the name right. Jack nodded and tried to look cool in front of the crowd. "For example, if the dice decide that the match will be a 3 vs. 3, and jack would be one of the members on that team."

"Oh, make the others me and Dorothy." Ginta said. "That would be a good team."

The goblin nodded. "Even if Jack personally loses, as long as your team has more individual wins than your opponents, then Jack's team still wins."

"I see, so even if Jack loses, as long as Dorothy and I prevail, our team wins 2-1." Ginta said nodding. It was simple enough to understand.

"That's right." The goblin said.

"Why am I the loser in the example?" Jack complained.

"On top of that, since Jack's team won, Jack is still capable of competing in the next battle." The goblin said before adding. "Provided that he's still alive after the previous match."

"Don't say things like that!" Jack shouted angrily.

"On the other hand, even if the other team lost, the one who beat Jack in what must have been an embarrassing match can still participate in the next battle. Meaning Jack, who lost, will be given a chance to take revenge for his lose." The goblin said.

Ginta scratched his head as if he didn't understand. "All it means is that our opponents will keep showing up in matches until we beat them." Danny said crossing his arms. "So we can't just win our half of the matches and then throw the rest, because the winners would fight us again later anyways."

"So ultimately, only the strong people will remain to fight if we only eliminate the weaker ones." Snow said.

"Oh, why didn't he just say that?" Ginta said grinning widely.

"I did." The goblin said a little annoyed with the blond boy.

"Sounds like the rules are the same as last time." Alviss interjected.

"That's right." The goblin nodded.

"In that case, we'll have to decide upon a captain." Alviss said confusing Ginta again.

"What's a captain?" Ginta asked.

"Indeed. We'll have you pick a captain out of the seven of you. Even if the team wins, if the captain loses, the whole game will end." The goblin explained.

Ginta scratched his head again. "So let's say Jack was the captain... then even though Dorothy and I won our matches, since captain Jack lost, the team would lose?" Ginta summarized.

"Why... why do I have to lose in the examples." Jack mopped.

"Sorry Jack, but you don't get to be captain." Danny muttered.

"Looks like you're starting to understand. Then please decide on your captain." The goblin requested. "Six years ago, Boss of the Cross Guard was the captain of the resistance. Our captain was the Number One Knight, Phantom. So, who will you choose?"

The team looked amongst themselves. "Can you give us some time?" Alviss asked. The goblin nodded and they team went to the said to discuss what they should do.

"I think Alviss should be captain." Ginta put out. "He was at the previous War Games and understands the rules clearly."

"No." Danny said with finality. "Out of all the people here, Alviss is the last one we went as a Captain." This shocked the others on the team.

The little fairy, Belle, flew over angrily to Danny. "Are you trying to say that my Al is weak!" She said angrily.

Danny shock his head. "No, but he should know the reason why it can't be him." Danny said looking at Alviss. "I can sense it. You've been infected by an ecto-signature. Your dying slowly." Alviss looked shocked but put a hand on his chest where his Zombie Tattoo was hidden from sight. The others were also wide eyed. "An infection like that will result in one of two things. Either turn you into a living corpse and rewriting of your own emotions to turn you into a person just like the ghost that infected you. Or your body can't handle the strain and will burn itself out. And you don't have much time left, do you?"

"It's just as he says." Alviss admitted pulling a sleeve back to show a tattoo on his arms. "Once this cursed tattoo runs through my entire body, I will become a living corpse like Phantom. If we don't finish Phantom in time, then I might turn on you during the middle of the War Games. It's been six years since I was branded, but I only have a few weeks left at the most."

"Alviss..." Ginta said feeling for the man. Danny also felt bad. Back on Earth or in the GZ he would have been able to remove that tattoo with ease. But on MAR, he could do nothing for Alviss. The fairy flew back and hugged onto Alviss's face sadly.

"I think that Danny should be our Captain." Snow put forward. Didn't really surprise anyone that she did. "He's been through war before and he is clever and strong."

"But Snow... he's a..." Jack started but Snow's glare cut him off. Only Jack and Ed the dog seemed to disagree with having Danny be captain. Dorothy and Nanashi were confused. What was Danny?

"I'm afraid Jack's right." Danny said shaking his head. "If my identity got out during the middle of the War Games then it would be a huge blow to the moral of the people watching if I was captain. And sooner or later I will probably have to reveal myself for the power boost in order to win the matches."

"That shouldn't matter." Snow insisted angrily. "You're fighting to protect everyone. No one should judge you for something you can't control."

"That's just how the worlds work. It's fine, Snow. I'm used to it." Danny said showing the princess a grateful smile.

"What are you talking about? What is Danny?" Dorothy asked looking around at the members of the group that predated her. "Come on tell me."

"It's not important." Danny said shaking his head. "We still need to decide on a captain. And I think Nanashi needs to be out of the running. He might throw his match for a pretty girl. And then we would have the world come to an end just so that Nanashi could have a date."

Nanashi laughed. "You might have a point."

"While Jack shouldn't be captain either. Besides just being the weakest member of our team, no one can take him seriously." Dorothy said causing Jack to cry. "And I don't really feel like being captain."

"So that leaves just Ginta and Princess Snow." Alviss said looking across at the two. "Either one would be good for moral. Ginta is a person from another world, just like Boss was. And Snow is the Princess of Lestava, the world capital, our one day queen."

"In that cause we should probably go with Ginta." Snow said startling the boy. "Back at Vestry he really gave all the villagers hope. That's the kind of thing that we need from a team captain." Snow explain.

Ginta blinked for a few moments before realizing what hat just happened. "What!? I'm captain?" He shouted in surprise.

Dorothy walked up next to him. "It just goes to show we all have high expectations for you." Dorothy said giving him a kiss on the cheek causing the boy to blush.

"I should actually be the one, but..." Babbo said smugly. "Don't forget that I'm the reason why everyone chose you as the captain. My first servant." This sparked another pointless argument between the ARM and his user.

"So, we all agree that we don't send out Ginta into any of the fights we don't know he can win?" Danny muttered and Alviss nodded.

"So have you decided?" The goblin asked.

"Yeah, I'm the captain. Ginta Toramizu." Ginta said confidently.

"Well then I guess we can start. The War Games officially start!" The goblin shouted. "Princess Reginrave will roll the dice." The princess walked out onto the balcony and tossed out two dice, one red and the other blue. The dice fell to the ground and after a few moments they both landed on three. "The first three means that the battle will be a 3 on 3 match. And the second means that the location is here, at Reginrave Field!"

The ground up and a large square ring rose up out of the ground. "Wow, what a gadget. Good for them." Nanashi said.

"Is it just me, or does that ring look almost exactly like the normal floor that was already there?" Danny said crossing his arms, completely unimpressed.

"And where are our opponents?" Alviss asked.

"I will call them out." The goblin said. "Come out, the Chess Piece's first team. Red light appeared and three people teleported in. Two normal sized people, a girl and a boy, looking as if they were around seventeen or eighteen. The boy had on a mask and army like clothes of long sleeves and jeans, both in a shade of green. He had dark blue hair and a rook piece earring. The girl had much lighter blue hair and was wearing a blue bikini top and sweat pants. She also had a rook piece earring and was holding a long rod with a large ball attached on the end.

Behind them was a huge man, around eight feet tall, completely bold with tattoos all over his body. He seemed a lot more serious than the other two and he had a bishop earring.

"The Rodokin family!" The goblin introduced them.

"So they're our first opponents." Ginta said excited.

"Nothing but rooks and a bishop." Danny said a little grumpily. "They underestimate us."

The young man on the other team scoffed. "There's really only seven of them?" He said mockingly.

"Looks like an easy win for us, right, daddy?" The girl commented looking up at the giant of a man.

"Now, decide on your three contestants please." The goblin said to Team MAR.

Of course each of them wanted to be one of the first ones up. Not Danny though. He felt like it was best if he didn't use his ARM's powers until later. The longer they had powerful wild cards the better. But as the arguing continued he was the one that purposed a way of deciding. "How about we all just roll those dice. Largest three numbers get to go." Danny said picking up the dice. The others agreed.

Danny felt like an idiot as he rolled two sixes. 'Great, so now I have to go.' He thought miserably. The other two were Ginta and Jack.

"Damn it, I wanted to fight a girl." The son said from the Chess Pieces side. "It's so boring against just guys."

"Don't underestimate them, Leno." The father said in a voice like sandpaper.

"I'm telling you, they're nothing." Leno said waving off his father's comment.

"Do your best out there, Danny, Ginta, Babbo, Jack." Snow said to each of them in turn.

"Leave it to me!" Ginta shouted before running up to the stage himself pulling Babbo along behind him.

"So then, the Rodokin family's Leno, against Ginta captain of the Cross Guard." The goblin said.

Ginta glared. "I'm from team MAR!" He shouted at the goblin.

"Oh, right, team MAR." The goblin corrected himself.

As the match started several of the onlookers had things to say. "Wait, is that little kid really the captain? That means if he loses here than the War Games will already be over." One man said and the wave of fear passed through the watching crowd.

Ginta turned to the crowd. "Don't talk like that! I'm going to win and help save the world of MAR." He shouted catching the audience off guard.

"First match, began!" The goblin shouted.

"Wasn't that a speech, kid." Leno said before lifting up his hands and activating his ARM. "Weapon ARM; Stone Jamadhar!" He's weapon was twin claws on his arms, simular to the pawns in the qualifying rounds.

"Let's go Babbo." Ginta said grinning. "Babbo; Version 1; Hammer ARM!" He shouted as Babbo morphed into a sort of boxing glove over his right hand with a large metal ball on the end.

The two fighters went at it, but Ginta was easily pushing the Chess Piece back with the physical strength he had gained through being summoned through the Gatekeeper Clown.

Eventually Leno decided to switch tactics and used a Fire ARM to though fire balls at Ginta, but Ginta easily dodged. "It's obvious that he's better than a rook." Danny said as he watched Ginta fight. But there was one problem. Even if Ginta had a lot of power, he didn't have any grace in fighting. He left a lot of openings and used more energy than he needed to.

"Alright Babbo, lets finish this." Ginta said grinning as his magical power changed direction. "Babbo; Version 3; Gargoyle!" The entire crowd was shocked as Babbo changed into a massive Guardian, half as big as the ring itself; a red stone Gargoyle with large wings sitting on top of a large blue crystal. The Gargoyle had a form of ring in its mouth. After just one slap the rook was down for the count.

"Easy win." Ginta said happily as he got off the field. Everyone celebrated his win.

The next match was not as good for the free world to watch. After a little bit of a rocky start Jack managed to get his opponent wrapped up in some vines and was moving in for the finish. But after getting detracted by people calling him a pervert Jack got hit in the balls by the detaching head of the girl's ARM.

"She hit him in the critical point Danny told me to aim for." Snow said wide eyed as Jack was being taken off. "It really is effective."

"Danny... why would you tell Snow to aim there?" Nanashi said cringing in sympathy for Jack.

"I never said I fight fair." Danny said with a shrug. "In a fight you do what you have to. Doesn't matter if it is underhanded or disgusting. As long as you are alive at the end and your opponent is unconscious."

It was Danny's turn and he headed up into the ring. His opponent was the huge father guy of the other two. "Final match, Chess Piece, Gallon." The goblin said as the large man walked up onto the platform. "And for Team MAR, Danny!"

"I'm a little excited." Ginta admitted as he watch from the sideline. "I haven't seen Danny fight since he got his magical power. And he could already beat rooks without it."

"It's 1 to 1 and we have that little kid up against that big guy." Someone in the crowd said scared.

Snow turned to them angry. "Why don't you all just be quiet. Danny is really strong. They is no way he would ever lose." She said confidently.

"Hey, do you sense them?" Nanashi asked Dorothy.

"Yes." She admitted. Several Chess Pieces were hiding in the shadows as they watched the match. "It looks like they are as curious about Danny as we are."

"Danny was it?" Gallon asked looking at Danny who nodded. "Honestly, I feel sympathy for you. A child like you being forced to go up against me as an opponent for the fate of the world. The pressure on you must be great."

"Sorry to break this to you buddy, but your not the biggest or the brightest thing I will have put down with the fate of a world resting in the balance. And after today I probably won't even remember your name." Danny said with a cocky grin. The members of Team MAR were cheering Danny on.

"Began!" The goblin shouted.

Danny moved forward. He was surprised when Gallon didn't put up any defense, but he wasn't about to let the opening go to waste. He jumped up and punched the man hard in the face four times with each hand.

It felt like Danny was punching sheet metal and there was no damage left on the man's face. Gallon throw a punch up toward the midair Danny but Danny pivoted around it, using the arm to pull himself in for a kick to the face that he used to diving board away from the Chess Piece.

"You sure have a hard head." Danny said getting into a fighting stance. "Must come from being thick as nails."

"Not bad punches for a child. I sense a good magical power inside of you. But it is useless." Gallon said smugly. He showed the rings he had on his hands five on the right and five on the left. "The rings on my left hand harden my skin. And the rings on my right hand strengthen my punches." He said coolly. "In other words, there is no way that you can win."

Words of fear went through the gathered people until they heard Danny laughing. "Yes, but you have to keep all those ARM going don't you. And that isn't cheap. Where as I have yet to activate my ARM." Danny said showing his own Gantlet. "If it comes down to a test of endurance, I will win by default." Gallon blinked. He had never thought about that before.

"Not that I will let it become something like that." Danny said before rushing Gallon again. "I can still beat you, even with your hardened skin!"

Gallon was confused but he tried to punch Danny as he got close. Danny easily dodged. Putting a hand on Gallon's chest and hooking a foot around his leg he throw Gallon. Gallon reacted to the falling sensation and his control over his ARM weakened slightly. Then before Gallon hit the ground he grabbed his head and pushed down with all his force. The impact was enough to crack open half of the field leaving the audience slack jawed. Gallon gave a gasp of pain as some of the damage made it through his shield.

While Gallon's mouth was open Danny cupped his hand and drove it down the man's throat widening his cupped hand and pulling it out, causing an involuntary gag reflex. Gallon flipped over and vomited onto the ground. With Gallon's concentration broken, Danny kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking him to the side. Then grabbing one of the Chess Pieces arm's he lifted him up and then drove him into the ground again, this time knocking him out.

Blood was coming out of the man's mouth and his eyes were vacant. "Daddy!" "Father!" The other Chess Pieces shouted in fear as they rushed the stage to check on their dad.

The whole castle was silent as Danny started to walk away. "Call the match." He said to the goblin as he passed.

"Ri...right!" The goblin shouted. "The winner of stage one's final match is Danny of Team MAR! Team MAR wins stage one." Cheers came from the people of MAR. They had won there first stage.

Danny turned his head back to the family. "Your father will be alright. That hit to the head wasn't enough to kill him and the blood is just from his broken nose and busted lip." Danny said to the two older kids. They looked at him with wonder in their eyes. "I hope that you will all consider leaving the Chess Pieces and living a more peace lives, with the lives of yours we have spared." He said before continuing on.

"So... that is Danny's fighting style?" Nanashi said as they younger boy approached.

"He knocks his opponent off guard and then pound him into submission without giving them a chance to recover." Dorothy said equally impressed.

"Wow... that was brutal." Jack said recovering from his shot to the balls.

"Good job, Danny." Snow shouted smiling up at her friend.

"It was nothing." Danny said grinning and rubbing the back of his head.

"Good job." Ginta said grinning. "You somehow beat that bishop. I thought you were in trouble when he started using all those ARM."

"There is no somehow about it." Alviss said cutting Ginta off. "You didn't even use your ARM. As if the fight wasn't worth revealing what you can do."

All the others realized that Alviss was right. Danny had not used his ARM even once. Or his Phantom Phrost powers. He had only used his enhanced strength to beat the man into submission. Danny just grinned. "It was only a bishop. The real change comes with the knights, right?" He said a cheerfully. "I'm looking forward to a rematch with Halloween, though I guess the other Ed has first dibs."

"But what does that mean for me?" Jack whimpered. After all, he had lost to a rook.

"Congratulations on your win." The goblin said walking up behind them. "But we have to decide on the fights for tomorrow. Princess Reginrave!" The princess threw out the dice again and this time it was a five and a three. "So it will be five on five in the desert field." The goblin said.

"Wait a second!" Danny shouted angrily. "You said earlier that a three in the location dice was the Reginrave field."

"Well... I." The goblin said getting nervous as they all glared at him. "See you tomorrow." And just like that he was beamed up and out of Team MAR's reach.

"I hate that guy." Danny said angrily. "Impartial judge my foot."

* * *

Later that night, after the first stage of the War Games, everyone was at dinner... well almost everyone. Ginta and Babbo were missing and Jack went to find them. But Snow was also missing so Danny went to find her.

Of course she wasn't hard to find for the ghost boy. "You sure do like high places." Danny said as he walked out onto the empty castle walls that over looked the nearby town. The town was completely destroyed. The sun was setting behind it giving the illusion that the town was still burning. "Snow, you know none of this is your fault. You couldn't have been prepared for this." Danny said hoping they were the right words.

"But isn't it my responsibility." Snow asked her usual happy go lucky attitude replaced by the truer fear and regret that she felt. "I'm their princess. I'm supposed to protect them. I should have known that my step mother was bad. I should have been able to stop it."

"Snow, you didn't know. Nobody knew. Things have happened." Danny said leaning up against the wall next to her. "But now we are doing everything we can to make things right. So don't worry so much." Danny said looking the princess in the eyes and grinning wide.

"Am I doing everything I can?" Snow asked her eyes tearing up a little. "I just seem to be depending on others. I even forced Ginta to be the team captain because... I was scared. I was scared of having the responsibility of having everyone's hopes on my shoulders. Just like I was scare of the Chess Pieces."

"Snow, none of us were up to the job of being team captain. Ginta is probably the best for the job because he doesn't think about these things very much." Danny joked and Snow chuckled through her tears. "You wanted to fight today but you lost the dice roll. Just wait, tomorrow you'll kick butt. But don't over do it. Don't want the Chess Pieces getting scared and call off the games."

Snow giggled. Silence settled in and Snow turned towards Danny. "Danny... will you stay with me?" She asked quietly. "I want you stay, even after the War Games are over and the world of MAR is safe. Because... I love you."

Danny was shocked for a moment but then a gentle smile crossed his face. He had also had feelings for her. She was kind and strong and trusting. "I will stay with you as long as you still want me. I promise." Danny said as they lend towards each other. "I love you too, Snow."

And with those words the exiled Princess of the World of Dreams and the unwanted Prince of Lost Souls shared their second kiss in a time of war as the sky was on fire.

* * *

Once they got back to the dining room Danny and Snow shared some ice cream, to the horror of Ed the dog. "Looks like you win." Nanashi said pulling out a small ARM and tossing it to Dorothy who looked pleased with herself. "I could have sworn that it would take a few more days for them to start dating. They seemed so childish."

"You... you were betting on how long it would be until we got together?" Snow pouted angrily. But for some reason, Danny couldn't find it in him to be surprised.

"Well it was pretty obvious that it would happen eventually. So I used it as an easy way of getting a rare guardian ARM from Nanashi. The leader of Ruberia does have quite a few nice ones." Dorothy said with a shrug as she inspected her prize.

"They are a cute couple I guess." Belle said flying around and hugging Alviss cheek. "But not as cute and me and Alviss."

They could all hear some footsteps coming towards them. "Oh, that must be Jack, Ginta and Babbo." Dorothy said smiling towards the hall. "I can't wait to see Jack's face when he finds..." But Dorothy stopped talking when she saw Gaira enter.

"Gaira." Alviss said seeing his former master.

"In tomorrow's battle, I'll have you all fight without Ginta, Babbo, or Jack." Gaira said in his high and mighty manner.

The other members of team MAR were surprised by his declaration. Dorothy got out of her seat. "What did you do to Ginta and Babbo? Oh and Jack?" She said as if the last one was an after though. But she seemed pretty angry.

"I put them in the training gate." Gaira responded.

"Are you serious?" Ed the dog asked his mouth hanging open.

"So tomorrow we have to fight without them." Snow said not too concerned.

"That's ridiculous!" Ed shouted scared.

"No it's not." Danny said Leaning back in his chair. "Even with Ginta gone we still have the five people we will need to fight tomorrow. And if Ginta is our captain then he needs to spend this time getting stronger. After all, if he loses just once then it is all over. In reality we want him to train as much as possible and compete as little as possible. Just one unlucky match like the one Jack had against that Pacu girl and it could cost the whole world dearly."

"They lack serious traits required for a good fighter." Gaira said. "At Ginta's current state, he won't be able to finish the War Games."

"He's right." Snow said getting everyone's attention. "Ginta's guardian was strong, but he can't control it fully let. Things are only going to get harder and harder. They are already strong, but they will come back even stronger."

The princess's approval seemed to be all that was needed for the group. They continued to eat with the knowledge that tomorrow they would all be fighting.


	11. Chapter 11

I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

* * *

"So we meet again, purple goblin thing." Danny said glaring down at their ref. "You think we've forgotten that you've just been making up what the field rolls meant after just one night."

The goblin backed away afraid. "But... we couldn't reuse the Reginrave field... you destroyed it." The goblin said pointing to the field which had two rather large craters in it, one from Ginta's Gargoyle and the other from Danny ramming Gallon's head into the ground.

"Little guy's got a point." Nanashi said grinning as Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's not all that bad." Danny said embarrassed causing Snow to giggle.

"So... are you five going to be the ones fighting?" The goblin asked the remaining members of team MAR.

"That's right." Snow said happily.

"The only person who has stayed the same is the scary kid." The goblin commented.

"I'm not that scary am I?" Danny asked Snow who shook her head.

"What... where is Ginta... and that other kid?" Someone in the crowd asked.

"Those two are training with Gaira right now." Dorothy said waving other the people's concerns. A murmur of disbelief went through the crowd.

"Yup, so just leave everything to us today." Snow said smiling and giving a victory sign. It was meant to raise confidence, but it just broadcasted that she was still a little girl at heart and made the people even more worried.

"Training... but the War Games have already started." Someone voiced. "Is that really going to work out?"

"Why not? You'd be surprised what you can accomplish in a montage." Danny said with a shrug.

"Are you all ready?" The goblin asked. They all nodded. "Alright then! To the desert field!" He shouted a ring similar to Nanashi's began to glow and the five of them were teleported out to the field of battle.

The team found themselves in the middle of a desert expanse with nothing but sand dons and half buried structures for a far as the eyes could see.

"So vast... we're fighting here?" Nanashi said as he looked around.

"So you don't think I can cause enough damage to make this place unusable?" Danny said grinning at the purple goblin. "Challenge accepted!" The goblin turned a shad of green.

"There sure is plenty of space for use to make a mess." Dorothy said laughing.

"But it might be difficult to cause much permanent damage." Snow noted.

"I'm sure we'll figure something out." Danny joked smiling at his girlfriend.

"Just get our opponents out here." Alviss said getting a little embarrassed by the others joking around.

"Ri... Right!" The goblin said lifting up his ring. "Come out, Chess Pieces!" Space bent and five small sand tornadoes appeared. As each disappeared they revealed a different Chess Piece. "Maira." A man in a heavy black cloak who wore a mask, he was a bishop. "Loco." The girl from the ice castle who had tried to curse Danny. Her eyes widened as she saw the boy in question and tried to hide herself behind her briefcase, she was still a rook. "Fu-gi." A man who's long hair seemed to twist behind him and expand out in all directions, defying gravity as it did so, as if it was in a whirlpool, he was a bishop. "Cartman." Cartman was a fat man wearing a turban, he looked as if he was going to have a heart attack in the heat, he was a rook class. "Rock." Rock was a darker skinned boy who was missing a few of his teeth and had a nasty smile, he was a bishop. "These will be the Chess Pieces you must fight today."

"I will go first." Fu-gi said stepping forward. None of the others complained. Loco was to busy shaking behind her suitcase to say anything.

Nanashi stepped forward pumping himself up. "Alright! I'll take the first..." He started but Snow cut him off.

"Wait!" She shouted causing Nanashi to stop in his tracks. She did her breathing exercises and stretches to pumper herself up. "I'll go first!" She shouted full of determination.

Nanashi could only watch stunned as she skipped off towards the field of battle. "Uh... she's got a unique world of her own." Nanashi said a little embarrassed by her actions. After all, the whole world was watching.

"Don't worry, it's just her own little mind game." Danny said standing next to Nanashi. "It's supposed to make her opponent confused and get them to underestimate her." Danny said. "I tried to teach her the art of banter, but this was more natural for her."

"So... this is all just an act?" Nanashi said relieved.

"Oh no, this is who she really is. I'm just saying that it's going to help her win." Danny said grinning as Nanashi face planted.

"Aren't you even a little worried about her going up to fight?" Dorothy asked Danny. "She is your girlfriend."

"I'm worried, but there is no real reason to be." Danny said as his princess continued to act like a sweet little kid right in the middle of battle field. "She'll do fine."

Fu-gi and Snow stood across from each other as they waited for the match to start. "You're her, right? The Princess of Lestarva, Snow." The wild haired Chess Piece asked.

"That's right. Do you have a problem with that?" Snow said confidently. Before she had been afraid of the Chess Pieces, but not anymore. She had found people to stand beside her and help her remain strong. And she had been trained by Danny.

"I heard you were running away from us, so I had imagined you would be weaker." Fu-gi admitted with a small shrug. "You're pretty energetic."

"I came here to fight, so of course I'm energetic!" Snow said grinning.

Fu-gi started to laugh. "Well it's my honor to be able to fight against a princess, Your Highness." The Chess Piece said.

Snow chuckled herself. "And it will be my pleasure to beat you." Snow said. Danny felt proud of his student's banter.

"Snow sure seems sure of herself." Dorothy said approving of the princess.

"Yeah, I'm fighting to avenge Ruberia. But she's the princess of the country that controls this world." Nanashi said watching the princess pump herself up. "She's small, but her reason to fight is big."

"You're right. That's why we have to support her." Dorothy nodded. But then she elbowed Danny and chuckled. "Of course you are only fighting for her aren't you." The witch teased.

Danny rubbed his nose blushing. "For the most part." He admitted.

"We all may have different reasons. But we are all fighting for the world of MAR." Alviss said. "And so we can't afford to lose."

The goblin got tired of all there dialogue so he started the match. "Second stage, first match, begin!"

"Let's get this started, then!" Fu-gi shouted as he went to attack first. He lifted his left hand bracelet into the air and it started to glow red. "Nature ARM; Vindalva!" Wind shot up around him.

"A wind user." Dorothy said.

"No, I think he usual water." Danny said rolling his eyes. "His name is Fu-gi, of course he uses wind." Dorothy glared at the ghostboy.

"Wind Cutter!" Fu-gi shouted and swung his arms in order to create blades of wind.

Snow easily dodged the blades of wind by moving along their paths. Nanashi gave a low whistle as Snow jumped in the air and spun around in order to dodge two horizontal slashes. "Will isn't she cool?" He said impressed.

"By moving toward the side that the wind blows from, she's obstructing the speed of the Wind Cutter." Dorothy said analyzing the princess movements. "Good judgment."

"Something you would expect from someone of long experience in battles against such uses. I thought Snow was a beginner." Alviss said.

"She's doing well out there." Danny agreed.

"Your skills at running away are as amazing as expected." Fu-gi said mocking the high princess.

"Dodging isn't all I can do. It's my turn now." Snow said preparing for her offense. Her hand brushed up against the Snow ARM that was attached to her belt. "Nature ARM; Iced Earth!" She shouted and threw a half dozen chunks of ice at her opponent.

"Tornado!" Fu-gi shouted as he summoned a tornado between the two of them which deflected the shards of ice.

"It's wind against ice." Nanashi said.

"Yeah but this guy is using his power wrong." Danny said grinning as the others looked at him questioningly. "Just watch. Snow will show you what I'm talking about."

"Iced Earth!" Snow shouted again as she launched more clumps of ice. They were still being redirected by the wind, but this time Snow fired into the part of the tornado that was going into the same direction as she was wanting the ice to go. The winds actually sped up her attacks. One of the piece hit home and scratched off a good portion of the Chess Piece's plaster mask. Some of the others hit his arms and legs, but no major damage.

"By moving with the wind on offensive attacks she can take advantage of its power." Dorothy said as she watched the princess continue. "She's a smart fighter."

"Yeah, she isn't an ordinary princess." Nanashi commented. "She's a full fledged fighter."

Fu-gi had placed his arms over his body to cover his vitals. He couldn't move or see while his tornado was between him and the princess kicking up dust. Snow's constant valley off ice shards had stuck him on the defense, unable to move. With his vision limited he didn't notice Snow moving closer until she was literally right in front of him.

His eyes widened as Snow gave a playful smile before starting up her close quarters attack with a strong punch to Fu-gi's mask. The plaster mask redistributed the force all across the Chess Piece's face and left him too blinded by shock and pain to react.

Snow went to town in her attacks. With Fu-gi's arms crossed over his chest she couldn't aim for those vitals at the start, but a fast kick between the legs followed by a elbow to the mask quickly changed that. Snow got in several strong hits before Fu-gi even managed to stumble out of the range of her short arms, but she pursued to make sure that he didn't regain any footing or concentration.

But soon Snow's stamina was starting to drop and she needed to step back and breath. But after a moments rest she went back in and fell into a pattern of quick punches.

"What do you think, Loco?" Maira asked the rook girl.

"Loco senses a strong will. She's like a different person from when Loco and Ian were pursuing her last week." Loco said in her usual manner of talking in the third person. "Back then, she was just a powerless child who was merely able to run away. And if that changed, it must be because of... him." Loco said glancing at Danny who was watching with a huge grin on his face. "Danny... He's a monster."

"Fu-gi's Wind Cutter and Tornado are both for long range combat. So she takes advantage of that by stay right next to him and forcing him to fight her in close quarters combat." Dorothy analyzed.

"Taking advantage of an opponents attack patterns to get them off guard and then attacking constantly to make sure they can't regain their ground." Alviss said.

"Sounds like Danny's fighting style." Nanashi agreed.

"Who do you think taught her?" Danny said smugly as he watched. "She's fallen into a predictable pattern though. She's just asking him to grab her... literally."

"What do you mean?" Alviss asked as he watched.

"We someone a lot taller than you grabs your wrist then they move there balance a lot further forward and it is hard for them to get a good grip." Danny said simply. "It other words, an opening."

Just as Danny finished saying it, Fu-gi managed to grab onto Snow's wrist. Fu-gi seemed pretty smug, but then Snow twisted her wrists and got out of the grab. Then grabbing the extended arms she jumped into the air and pulled Fu-gi towards her. "Snow Kick!" She shouted as she planted both her feet on the Chess Piece's face mask. The mask broke and Fu-gi was knocked back hard landing on his back.

Snow jumped up and down in a victory cheer. "I'm not done yet." Fu-gi said as he pushed himself back up. "I'm not done." He lifted up his left arm. "Tornado!" He shouted. But nothing happened. "What?" His ARM was missing from his wrist. Snow had taken it when she had gotten out of his grip.

Snow held his ARM where he could see it and gave a huge grin. "I think this is over." Snow said grabbing her guardian from around her neck. "Go... Yukichan!" She shouted. A twenty foot snowman fell from the sky and landed on top of Fu-gi. "I win!" Snow said giving a victory sign. The snowman stood tall for all to see with his arms crossed in front of it. A proud look on it's face.

"Um... yeah. Winner of stage two match one, Princess Snow of team MAR." The purple goblin said. The giant snowman disappeared back into the pendant around Snow's neck.

"Thank you, Yukichan." Snow said petting her ARM thoughtfully before running back to her team. "I did it!" She shouted and jumped onto Danny's arms for a hug.

"Never doubted you." Danny said smiling.

"Note to self. Don't make Danny, or Snow angry." Nanashi said before walking passed them. "I'll be up this time." He said grinning.

"Just don't be stupid, Nanashi!" Danny shouted after him.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, Nanashi!" Snow said trying to encourage him.

Over on the Chess Pieces side they were trying to decide who would go out. "I'll go." Loco said and started walking out towards the field as fast as she could with her suitcase.

"Oh, I feel sorry for that guy." Cartman snorted. "He is so boned."

"It isn't like you to be so volunteering, Loco." Maira said looking toward the small woman. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Because... If Loco doesn't fight soon. Loco might have to fight that monster boy." Loco said pointing towards Danny who scratched his head confused.

The other three Chess Pieces were quiet for a second as that information sank in. "Oh holy crap!" Cartman shouted slapping his fat cheeks. "I don't want to fight that guy! Not after what happened to Gallon!"

"He beat the shit out of him, even though all of Gallon's ARM's were activated." Rock added paling.

"He didn't even use his ARM. And I heard from Ian and Giromu that he's got some kind of weird ARM. One of those unique ones." Maira said his cloak trembling a bit.

"I heard he fought against Halloween one on one and came out without a scratch." Cartman said backing away. "Oh no. No why in hell am I fighting that guy."

"I ain't fighting him." Rock said shaking his head rapidly. "You're team leader, Maira. You fight him."

"Are you nuts. Loco said he better her and Ian at once without magical power. She said he was some kind of monster. Loco is afraid of him. I can't go up against a guy like that." Maira said scared.

Team MAR was watching the left over guys on their enemies team argue over who would fight the scary member of team MAR. "Am... Am I really that scary?" Danny asked a little offended.

"You took a powerful ARM user, who could wield ten strong Nature ARM at once and boasted complete physical invulnerability, and you pounded him onto a crater in less than a minute without using your ARM." Dorothy said crossing her arms. "That's pretty intimidating."

"It... it's not like I was going to kill him or anything." Danny said defensively.

"He was a bishop. And you treated him like a joke." Alviss said.

"But... Snow beat that Fu-gi guy without getting hit..." Danny mumbled. "She crushed him underneath the butt of a giant snowman. And Ginta used that Gargoyle guardian. So why am I the one everyone is scared of?"

"I guess they can just tell that you're even stronger." Snow said giving Danny a kiss on the cheek.

"Second stage, second battle. Loco of the Chess Pieces vs. Nanashi of Ruberia." The goblin said loudly to try and quiet the onlookers. The others all looked in at the two fighters.

"Something about that girl is bothering me." Dorothy said looking at Loco.

"Huh? You mean Loco? What about her?" Danny asked.

"Have you heard about her before? Is Nanashi in danger?" Snow asked always worried about her friends.

"No... but that sparkling skin... Those luminescent cuticles... She actually make me look old!" Dorothy said angrily crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Snow didn't really know how to react about that. "Um... Dorothy, I don't think that's all that important right now." Snow said a crept out look on her face.

"Don't try to reason with her, Snow. You might be drawn into the madness." Danny said sighing.

"Begin!" The goblin shouted signaling the start of the match.

Both fighters just stood there for several seconds, Nanashi's arms were crossed in front of him. But then when he finally said something it was something that made Danny want to strangle him. "Well then. Ladies first, you get the first hit."

"Huh, what is he thinking?" Snow asked Danny confused. "The first hit is too important in a fight. He can't just give it up."

"He isn't thinking. That moron, doesn't he know chivalry is dead." Danny said angrily as he glared holes in the back of his teammate. Danny had long since had any concept of 'don't hit a lady', or 'lady's first' or 'be careful how you talk to a lady' beaten out of him fast when he started to have to fight. When it came to a fight you did whatever you had to, kicking below the belt, elbowing, biting, throwing sand in their eyes, drop the building on their heads if you have to. You do whatever it takes to win, short of killing them. Because the consequences for losing were often too great to stomach.

"Why is that idiot being so composed?" Dorothy said just as angry.

"With his magical power, he does have an advantage, but nothing is for certain in battle." Alviss said watching the fighters.

"You underestimate Loco. I'm a little mad." Loco said, clearly more than just a 'little' mad, as she took off her suitcase. "I'll finish you in one shot."

"Oh, what is this? Do you have a toy or something in there?" Nanashi asked still treating her as a child.

"Stop being stupid Nanashi! Attack her before she curses you!" Danny shouted but Nanashi didn't listen. Loco opened up the suitcase and pulled out the chain and pendent that she had used on Danny before. "Attack her you moron!"

"Lets use this." Loco said as she turned to Nanashi. "One of Loco's seven cursed items, Neguzero." She said in her monotone voice. "Seize thine movement!"

Nanashi was bound to the spot, unable to move. "A binding curse." Alviss said seriously. "Unless Nanashi has a Holy ARM on him, he's already lost."

"Well Nanashi lost." Danny said face palming.

"Nanashi, why?" Snow asked equally disappointed.

"There we go." Loco said as a large voodoo doll, twice as big as she was, popped out of her suitcase. Chains wrapped around its arms and chest and on one end of the chain dangled a metal skull. She put it down on the ground before pulling out a large metal spike and a hammer to match.

"H... hold on! What are you planning on doing with those!?" Nanashi shouted not liking were this was going.

"Since it's 'ladies first'..." Loco said mockingly as she raised the nail up to the doll. She hammered it into one of the straw doll's arms. Nanashi gave out a shout of pain.

"Dorothy, could that possibly be...?" Snow started to ask but Dorothy cut her off.

"It's definitely a Darkness ARM. It's a Cursed ARM." Dorothy said.

"But if it is, every time she uses it, a curse should be cast upon her as well." Snow said.

"Yeah, the stronger the effect of the curse is, the stronger the reactive effect will be." Dorothy agreed. But nothing bad seemed to be happening to Loco.

"These ARMs do not harm Loco." Loco said hearing them talk. "The side effect is a loss of age." This was slightly surprising to the team. "The more I use it, the younger I become."

"How is that considered a negative reaction?" Danny demanded but then he thought about it for a moment. "Though I suppose death by youth would be an ironic end."

"The more I use it, the younger I become. Loco is 32 years old." Loco said in her monotone voice.

"32 years old... with skin like that?" Dorothy said angrily.

"That really isn't the problem right know, Dorothy." Snow said worried about Nanashi.

"It was 6 years ago..." Loco said mysteriously. But then she stopped talking and just stood there.

"Why is she just standing there?" Snow asked after a few seconds.

"I think she's having a flashback. In the middle of a fight too." Danny said disapprovingly. "Nanashi, stop just standing there and attack while she is distracted."

"I'm still bound." Nanashi said his arms crossed over his chest just as they had always been.

"Excuses. I broke out of it before, now you do it or you've lost." Danny shouted at him. But in truth Danny was panicking.

"Danny broke out of the binding curse?" Alviss asked a little shocked.

"When he first came to MAR and rescued me from Ian and Loco." Snow said. "Loco used this very same ARM on him."

"Danny's from another world? Who summoned him?" Alviss asked surprised.

"I would assume that the Gatekeeper Clown was still functioning after it had brought Ginta to MAR." Dorothy said shrugging. "That's a powerful dimensional based Guardian ARM that has a mind of its own. I assume that after it summoned Ginta it still had some power left and just sat around until Danny came along and it grabbed him."

"So then... I summoned him." Alviss said looking at Danny. "I make a gamble using an unpredictable ARM and hoping for a hero... and instead I get two really weird kids."

Then Loco seemed to finish her flash back. "Ever since that day, Loco has been getting younger and younger. Even now, whenever I use the ARM." She said as if everyone could have seen her flash back.

"What's she talking about?" Dorothy asked wondering if she could have the answer to ever lasting youth.

"I don't know." Snow admitted.

"Maybe this ARM causes bazaar visions as part of its curse." Danny suggested.

Loco turned back to the voodoo doll and lifted up another spike before hammering it into the other arm. Nanashi grunted him pain. "You're pretty tough. Most people die from shock by the second Spike." Loco said before picking up a third spike. "Three spikes left. I wonder how many more you can withstand." She then hammered in the third spike.

"Please give up, Nanashi! You'll really die!" Snow shouted worried more about the life of the person she had drag into the War Games than the War Games themselves at the moment.

"We already have one victory! Just leave the rest to me and Danny!" Dorothy shouted.

"Just give up and don't make the same mistake next time!" Danny added.

Nanashi chuckled. "Maybe I will give up... if Dorothy gets butt naked." He said grinning through his pain.

Danny and Alviss's jaws dropped and the girls turned bright red. "Like hell!" Dorothy shouted.

"Then I will stand here a little longer." Nanashi said then he got a far off look in his eyes. "She does look just like her." He said as she stared at Loco.

"You got to admit, the theory that these spikes are making them delusional is looking more and more likely." Danny said.

"You are unusually spirited for someone who has taken three spikes." Loco said confused. "Why do you not just give up?" Nanashi didn't answer. "Loco does not like being ignored... is he dead?" She asked as he still remained silent.

"No, we can still feel his magical power..." Danny said and then added. "I think he's frashbacking."

"People really do that?" Loco asked a little shocked.

But before anyone could respond, Nanashi said. "I will not forgive them." His voice was full of hatred and determination. Then to Loco's horror, Nanashi began to move. Slowly at first but then his arms broke free and the cursed item broke.

"No... not another one." Loco said and hammered in the forth nail. "How is this?" She said then noticed that Nanashi wasn't even reacting to them anymore. Loco back away confused. Nanashi grinned a crazy grin and pointed at her. "He... he's a monster." She said with wide eyes as she hammered in the fifth nail.

Nanashi just grin and electricity began to jump all over his body. "Nature ARM; Electric Eye!" Nanashi shouted and a bolt of lightning came from his body and went up into the sky before coming down and striking the voodoo doll, destroying it and the nails.

Nanashi was still panting as he pointed towards the girl. "You're not the one I want to strike with this thunder. It's saved for that bastard called Peta." Nanashi said through his pained gasps. "So for today, I'll... end it... here..." He finished before collapsing to the ground.

"Nanashi!" Danny and Snow shouted together.

The goblin walked up to check on Nanashi. "The winner is, the Chess Pieces' Loco!" He declared. Loco just stood there for a second in shock of what had happened before returning to her team who congratulated her.

"Nanashi, I hope that kindness doesn't get you killed one day." Alviss said frowning.

Danny, Snow and Dorothy ran up to check on Nanashi who was barely conscious. "I'll heal him." Snow said and pulled out her Healing Angel ARM as Danny picked Nanashi up and took him back towards team MAR's corner.

Once there he looked down at Nanashi. "Nanashi... get off the team." He said shocking the group.

"What... One little lose and..." Nanashi struggled to say but Danny didn't let him finish.

"This has nothing to do with the lose." Danny said angrily. "You were stupid. You risked everything on that 'ladies first' garbage." Danny straighten up beside him. "We're the heroes, Nanashi. And that means we can't lose. Because when heroes lose, that means that everyone they guard are at risk. That everyone they hoped to protect will die." The others stared at him in shocked silence. "In a war, winning is everything. If you can't understand that, then get out."

Danny walked away to let Nanashi think on what was said. But the one that was really thinking about it was Princess Snow. She had to admit that Danny was right. Everyone was depending on them to win no matter what. 'I will not lose.' She told herself seriously as she continued to work on Nanashi. 'No matter what.'

The first two matches were done, and it was the Chess Pieces turn to put forward a fight. But the second stage was far from over.

* * *

**Danny's got the Chess Pieces running scared. Nanashi is an idiot. People flashback too much.**

**Danny trained Snow to fight like him. Incredibly brutal!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

"Good job, Loco." Maira said as the fake little girl returned to them.

"Don't talk to Loco." She mumbled before going and sitting down behind the group. Even if she had won against Nanashi, it was clear that she could not continue to compete in the tournament when her team lost. Even if the rules aloud it she was just too weak.

"Alright Cartman. It's your turn." Rock said pushing the fat rook along.

"What!? But what if they chose the scary kid to fight!? I too pretty to die!" Cartman said trying to push himself away from the center of the area.

"Wow, wow! Calm down, Cartman." Rock said. "Think about it, that guy must be like a free win or something to them. Why would they send him out to fight a rook when they could save him for a bishop like one of us?"

Cartman swallowed and looked back at his teammate with moist eyes. "You promise?" He asked.

"I promise." Rock said nodding.

"Alright than. Wish me luck. Charge!" Cartman shouted as he waddled forward.

"God I hope that they choose Danny to fight him." Rock said after Cartman was out of ear shot. He didn't feel any guilt about tricking the underling into going. After all, if either him or Maira went out, they would have surely picked Danny to crush them. Maira was a guardian user and in a close up fight he was completely useless and would be snapped like a twig if Danny just got around his guardian.

Truth be told, Rock stood the best chance, but if he and Maira each got easy matches, then there team would win even though Cartman was a dumbass and Fu-gi got his butt kicked by the little princess.

"Alright you assholes! Who is going to be the one to be destroyed by the invincible Cartman!" Cartman shouted on the top of his lungs and then stood there laughing.

"You want fight him, Dorothy?" Danny asked.

"No way. I don't want to go anywhere near that fatass." Dorothy said sticking up her nose in disgust.

"Hey, this is all muscle!" Cartman shouted in his defense.

"Well I guess I'll fight him if you two don't want to." Danny said rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment of the fat mans actions.

Cartman stopped laugh. "Rock, you lying asshole!"

"Too late Cartman, you already are out there." Rock shouted not a bit of guilt in his voice. "So just suck it up, fatass."

"I'll go." Alviss said walking passed Danny and towards the field. "Anything to shut these idiots up."

"Alright then." Danny said with a shrug.

Cartman was immediately relieved and started laughing confidently again. "Oh, so the pretty boy thinks that he is a match for the invincible Cartman!" Cartman shouted.

"You think he got that fat from the reaction effect of a curse?" Danny commented.

"A price like that would be too heavy to pay." Snow said nodding.

"I'm not fat!" Shouted the 400 pound man. "I'm just big boned!"

"Third match, Chess Pieces' Cartman vs. Alviss of the Cross Guard!" The goblin shouted hoping to get it over with. "Begin!"

"Now you will feel my wrath!" Cartman shouted and lifted a ringed hand into the air. "Weapon ARM; Numb-chuck!" two four foot poles connected by a chain grew in his hand. He twirled them around his body a few times in a flushing fashion. "Oh yeah... I'm... assume." He said already panting for breath from the exertion. Alviss didn't react but his team had burst into laughter.

"Why is this guy on our team?" Maira said embarrassed.

"Because Lord Phantom thought it would be funny." Rock replied.

"Alright now, charge!" Cartman shouted and started waddling as fast as he could towards Alviss.

"Guardian ARM; Thirteen Totem Pole." Alviss said simply. A fifty foot totem pole pushed out of the ground from the ground beneath Cartman pushing him up into the air before dropping him those fifty feet. Cartman landed with a heavy thud that left a crater in the sand.

"Ooh..." Everyone said at once in pity for the rook.

The goblin called the winner. "Winner, Alviss of the Cross Guard!" He shouted.

"Oh my god, he killed Cartman." Maira said surprised at just how quick the match was.

"You bastard!" Rock shouted. But Cartman's groans. "Oh wait, he's still alive."

"So can anyone move this guy or should we just move the battle over?" The goblin said looking at the immobile Chess Piece. In the end they all just moved so they wouldn't have to touch him.

It was finally Danny's turn to fight. He walked out and waited for his opponent. After a short argument Rock stepped forward. Rock seemed fairly young, around nineteen, was six feet tall with dark skin and curly black hair.

"Fourth match, Chess Pieces' Rock vs. Danny of team MAR. Begin!" The goblin said and then ran to a safe distance.

Rock seemed to still be afraid of Danny and was visibly quacking in his boots. Danny kind of felt sorry for him. "You know, you can just give up and go home if you don't want to fight." Danny said scratching his head.

Rock swallowed and clenched his fists. "I... I won't lose to you! The desert field is were I am at my strongest! Here I am almost as powerful as a Knight!" Rock shouted lifting up a ring that had a small stone on it. "Nature ARM; Rock Lances!" He shouted. Sand moved into the air and condensed into seven long spear like rocks.

The Rock Lances flew at Danny who neatly dodged them all. "Okay then." Danny said and ran forward towards the bishop. But as Danny got close he felt magical power flowing into the ground in front of him, between him and Rock. He jumped back just as a wall of spikes came out of the ground blocking his path.

"I won't let you get that close to me." Rock said. "I bet you are only good at close quarters combat, so as long as I keep you at range I have nothing to worry about."

"Doesn't look like I will be able to do this without revealing any of what I can do." Danny muttered. It was true that Rock had a lot more magical power than his previous opponent. His Earth Nature ARM drawing power from the easy raw materials around him. Danny sensed more magic below him. Using his sixth sense he dodged attack after attack that came shooting up out of the ground beneath him.

"It looks like Danny is in trouble." Nanashi said having recovered from his battle.

"Not at all." Snow replied shocking her teammates with how calm she was. "Danny has yet to start fighting."

Danny jumped twenty feet into the air as spikes closed in all around where he had been standing. "I got you now. You can't dodge while your still in midair!" Rock shouted. "Rock Lances!" Seven long rock spears flew up towards Danny.

But before his team could worry he grinned. "Want to bet. Ancient Gantlet; Version 1; Aura Guard!" The white aura moved over Danny's body and he changed directions to avoid the projectiles. Danny righted himself and was standing in midair.

"You... you can fly!?" The Chess Piece shouted afraid again.

"That's right. The ground my be yours to control, but the sky is my domain." Danny said a raised one hand. "And there is something else you were wrong about. Phantom Phrost; Iced Earth!" He formed a half a dozen large chunks of ice and sent them flying at the Chess Piece, who barely had enough time to summon up a shield of rock from the ground. "I am not limited to close ranged attacks." And like that Rock was now on the defensive as he tried to protect himself from the hail storm above him.

"Danny's ice attacks are strange." Dorothy said getting the rest of Team MAR's attention. "I can't sense him synchronizing with his ARM to produce those attacks."

"He isn't." Snow said smiling. "Danny can use ice without the assistance of a Nature ARM."

"He can what!?" Dorothy shouted, Nanashi and Alviss were equally shocked. "I thought that only the elder Sorcerers could do stuff like that."

"... and Phantom." Alviss added. Snow worried that she had made a slip up that would reveal Danny to there friends. She wanted to say that it wouldn't matter, but Jack and Ed the dog both acted weirdly towards Danny. They were afraid of him.

"Well... I guess Danny is really special then." Snow said turning away from them.

Rock had encased himself completely in rock in order to protect himself so Danny started to use a harder hit. "Phantom Phrost; Glacier Shot!" He shouted forming a much larger chunk of ice and dropping it on top of the shield destroying it. Rock dragged himself out from underneath the rubble coughing. "Want to surrender?" Danny offered.

"No... I can still win." Rock said pulling out a pendent. "And when I kill you, I will be promoted to Knight class." He swung the pendent around. "Come out! Guardian ARM; Terramorphus!"

Sand began to gather and take the form of a massive thirty foot long worm. Danny sighed as the worm lunged at him. He easily dodged the thing and preformed a midair bicycle kick that launched it down to the ground and collapsed its head in. "Seriously? A sand worm." Danny said disappointed.

"My guardian isn't done yet." Rock said and the smashed head began to reform by pulling in the sand below it. "As long as the ARM inside of Terramorphus stays intact then he will always regenerate."

Danny was slightly annoyed but then he grinned. "Well then I guess I better make good on my word about tearing this field apart." Danny said flying down to the ground. His white aura disappeared as his gantlet changed into a glove. "Ancient Gantlet; Version 2; Spirit Cannon." Danny said looking up.

Danny's eyes were glowing a fiery green as he leveled his hand to point at the giant worm monster. "Wide focus lens, power output at 50%." Danny said as the Terramorphus charged him. The light from his glove was strong enough to be seen by all. "Fire!"

The blast of green light hit the worm dead on and it was completely destroyed leaving a wide trail of destruction behind it. "That's..." Nanashi tried to find the words but couldn't.

"He condensed all his magical power into one area and then unleashed it as a stream of pure destructive power." Dorothy said slack jawed.

"Geez Danny, I said not you use more than 25%." Snow said angrily, but Danny didn't even seem winded as if his strength had grown to the point were the 50% was nothing.

"If that was just 50%... what is 100% like?" Alviss said a little intimidated.

"I have said it before, and I will say it again. I'm glad he's on our side." Nanashi finally said.

Danny started walking towards Rock with his glove glowing again. The Chess Piece wet himself at the sight of Danny's green eyes. "I surrender! I give up! Please don't kill me!" He shouted scrambling away as fast as he could.

It took a will for the goblin to call the match. "I really need a different job." He mumbled before shouting. "Winner, Danny of Team MAR!"

Danny walked back to his team grinning and giving a victory sign. Snow ran up and hugged him. "Good job, Danny." She said smiling gently.

"Piece of cake." Danny chuckled before they kissed.

"Um... not to disturb anything but... the whole world of MAR is watching, and there is still one fight left." The goblin coughed disturbing the young couple. Danny and Snow flushed with embarrassment and Danny had the strangest feeling that he wanted to strangle Ed the dog.

"What? But our team already has three wins. That means we won." Nanashi argued.

"Well yes and no. Your team did with the stage, but we still need to have one more fight to decide who is allowed to fight in the next stage." The goblin said before adding. "And just for the record, you lost your battle."

"Shut up!" Nanashi shouted angrily.

Dorothy walked forward and brushed her hair out of her face. "Don't worry, this shouldn't take long." She said smiling as she walked out towards the battlefield everyone doing there best to ignore the cone of destruction that lay where Danny had attacked the sand guardian.

* * *

(To lazy to write. Maira uses a guardian that is a giant slime that desolves whatever it captures inside of it. He talks a lot about all the people he has feed to it, so Dorothy used a guardian named Toto, a giant dog lion thing, to eat Maira's guardian, and then Maira himself, because it is poetic justice. Maira flashbacked during the fight.)

* * *

Snow buried her head in Danny's shirt as Maira was pulled into Toto's open mouth by some invisible force. "It looks like he was the first victim of the War Games." Dorothy said with a smile that sent chills down everyone's spines.

"That was so cruel. She should have just accepted his surrender. He didn't have any ARM left." Snow cried into Danny's chest. Danny patted her on the back of her head. He understood were Snow was coming from, but the truth was, that if Maira had lived, he would have gotten a new ARM and gone back to killing innocent people.

"Maybe not." Nanashi said solemnly. "This is war after all."

"But..." Snow started but Nanashi cut her off.

"Tomorrow, you might be the dead one." He said. " This isn't a plain old game. I think that's what Dorothy wanted to say. Plus those people are all murders."

"But if we just kill people for not fitting into our ideals of how the world should be, then how are we any better than them." Danny said looking over a horrified other team. He saw some of the same looks that were in the towns people's eyes; scared, grieving, and hopeless. "We end up blurring the line between justice and revenge."

"Well sorry if I want revenge." Nanashi growled.

"There is a difference." Alviss said walking up. "We don't target civilians and use terrorist actions. We don't kill for pleasure or profit."

"Depends how you define profit... or pleasure." Snow said looking sick as Dorothy pet Toto with a pleased expression on her face.

"All matches have been completed. Now returning all survivors to Reginrave castle!" The goblin shouted. A glow appeared around the members of team MAR and they were teleported way.

* * *

When they arrived at Reginrave castle they were greeted by cheers. "MAR! MAR! MAR!" everyone was chanting. The happiness in the air quickly washed away all the thoughts of death in the War Games.

"Princess!" Ed shouted running up to Snow. "That was a wonderful battle." He said tears in his eyes though Danny thought he got a glare from the dog.

"Thank you, Ed." Snow said.

"Looks like we will have some good news for Ginta and Jack when they get back." Ed said. Snow grinned and nodded.

"Speak of the devil." Dorothy said smiling and a moment later light appeared right in front of them signaling a teleportation. When the light was going there stood Ginta, Jack and Babbo.

"That old man is a demon." Jack said panting heavily. Ginta was in just as bad of shape.

"You guys are back." Snow said smiling.

"Gaira's training is over." They said together give a thumbs up.

Dorothy tackled Ginta to the ground and started kissing him on the cheeks while Jack stood there tearing up with jealously.

"Wow, they've grown so much." Snow said taking note of there power levels.

"You're right." Danny nodded. "Their magical power is close to ours now. Though I hope that the old man taught them how to fight. Power means nothing if you don't know how to use it." Danny spoke from experience.

"Ginta, we won our battle while you were gone. Aren't we great?" Dorothy said in a childish voice.

"It's hard to believe she's the same person who just killed someone with a smile on her face." Nanashi said halfway between fascinated and frightened.

"Huh." Ginta said thinking about it for a second before saying. "I trusted you guys would, so I'm not surprised." He said with his large grin on his face.

"He trusted me." Dorothy cued holding her hands in front of her heart.

"Dorothy sure is scary." Nanashi concluded.

Alviss saw Gaira walking up. "How did it go, Gaira?" He asked the old master.

"Hm. They were pretty interesting to train." He said with a small grin. He pulled to rocks out of his poke. "Watch this." He said and then threw the rocks and Ginta and Jack while there backs were turned.

Ginta dodged that just barely passed by his head without hitting it. Jack on the other hand lifted up his fist and punched his rock into dust. Before anyone had time to be impress Ginta shouted. "What's the matter with you, old man!?"

Jack was rolling around cradling his hand and crying out in pain.

"They sensed the presence of a rock that doesn't even have any magical power." Alviss said a little impressed.

"But Jack is still an idiot." Danny sighed.

"It's not just these two idiots, I've gotten stronger too!" Babbo shouted.

"You were training too, Babbo?" Snow asked entertaining the ARM's delusions.

"Since I'm such an incredible person, I don't need to train." Babbo boasted. "Take a look at this, Snow." He said lifting up his hammer for her to see. The fourth magic stone was placed in it. "The 4th Magic Stone that Danny got from that ghost at the underground lake is set!"

"So you have a new power now. What kind of ability is it?" Snow asked.

Babbo tried for a dramatic look. "Baby, that's still a secret."

"What are you bragging about?" Ginta said angrily. "I'm the one that imagined it." This sparked a new argument between the two.

But they were finally interrupted by the purple goblin. "Umm... Congratulations on winning the second stage. I'm sorry to bother you, but I'd like to pick tomorrow's battlefield." He said hoping that none of the scary people on their team minded.

"Alright, lets do it!" Ginta said giving it the thumbs up.

"Princess Reginrave!" The goblin shouted. The princess once again threw out the pair of dice. The red die landed on a six, while the blue was on a four. "The fight will be six on six in the volcano field." The goblin said.

"Vol...volcano." Danny and Snow gulped together though no one could hear them.

"Forget that!" Babbo shouted. "Lets just get to the food. I'm so tired and hungry." The ARM complained.

"I'm starving too." Jack said rubbing his stomach.

"All right! To celebrate MAR's victory and the return of Ginta and Jack, let's party!" Nanashi shouted. Everyone loudly agreed.

* * *

"NO!" Jack shouted in despair as Dorophy laughed. Twin streams of tears went down the sides of his face.

"That expression is priceless..." Dorothy managed to say through her laughter.

"Geez Jack, couldn't you at least pretend to be happy for us?" Danny said at the rather pathetic display of his fellow man. Snow was sitting in his lap as they ate at the party. Jack had just been told that Danny and Snow were now officially dating and he wasn't taking the news well.

"I must admit I am also confused as to why the princess would pick a commoner like you." Babbo said causing one of Danny's eyebrows to twitch.

"C...Commoner?" Danny mumbled. Common was not a word usually used to describe him.

"Aah don't listen to those two. I'm sure you two will be great together." Ginta said with a wide grin plastered all over his face.

"Thank you, Ginta." Snow said confused as to Jack and Babbo's reactions.

"Ginnnnnta." Dorothy said in a pouting voice putting her arm around the younger boy. "When are you going to admit that your in love with me?" Ginta flushed bright red as the witch whispered into his ear.

People were laughing and celebrating all around them. "This brings back memories." Gaira said smiling to himself.

"Of what?" Nanashi asked the old man as he took a swig of Pupura juice.

"The War Games from six years ago." The old man said immediately getting the attention of team MAR. "Whenever we won, we had banquets and everyone was full of joy and laughter."

"Yes, I remember that." Alviss said with a gentle smile. "At the time, Boss said that he came from a different world, and he told stories about it, didn't he? He told us stories about his wife and how she wrote books. And stories about his own son as well." Alviss said as if they were fawned memories. But Ginta stiffened at the words.

"He was a fun and kind guy, wasn't he." Someone said in a sappy manner.

"Yeah, he was our source of hope." Another responded.

"He said things like, 'Never in history has evil triumphed!' and 'We'll definitely win.' and kept cheering us up." The first guy said quoting the Boss. "If only he were around now."

"He sure was a big loss for this world." The second man agreed.

Ginta got up and grabbed one of the mugs of Pupura juice. Then standing were everyone could see him he made a spectacle of downing the whole thing in one go. He received a few cheers as he finished it and dropped the mug to the ground.

Then as loud as he could Ginta declared to everyone there. "We're going to protect this world!" He shouted. "Listen! We're definitely going to win! And you can count on me, because I am Boss's son!" There were sounds of amazement throughout the gathering. But then the Pupura juice got into Ginta's blood stream and the boy began to sway from side to side before falling over drunk and unconscious.

"He collapsed!" Jack shouted as he checked on his friend.

"Gaira, is what he just said...?" Alviss started but was to shocked to finish.

Gaira nodded and said. "Remember his face. He is the Boss's son, without a doubt. He is our new hope!" It was as if new life and energy had been breathed into the crowd.

"This must be some strong stuff." Danny said wondering aloud as he looked at a mug of Pupura juice.

"You should really have some Danny." Snow pushed him as she grabbed her own mug and downed it in a simular fashion to how Ginta did receiving just as many cheers. Snow then started to giggle. "Come on Danny, try it." She said pulling on his sleeve.

Danny looked down at the pink liquid and shrugged. "You only die once." He said before tipping his head back and chugging the whole thing.

* * *

A few hours later a half drunk Danny was carrying a sleeping Princess Snow up toward her room with Jack and Ed also going to bed so that they would be ready for the next days events. Danny and Snow had both played music for most of the night to the great delight of the crowds. There had been a piano inside of the castle and it turned out that Snow was very talented on it, and that neither of them seemed to be hindered by the four pitchers of Pupura juice that they had drank each.

"Ed, I want some more Pupura juice." Snow giggled in her sleep.

"I still can't believe how different she is after a little Pupura juice." Jack said looking a little scared.

"Everyone needs to unwind sometimes." Danny said with a shrug.

"Um... Excuse me." Someone said from behind them. Danny and Jack turned around to see a boy a little older than them in a sky blue blazer than had white feathers on the right shoulder. The boy had dirty blond hair and light velvet eyes. Danny was immediately on guard as he noticed the presence all over the boy's skin. He had a zombie tattoo, just like Alviss. "That was a great battle today. I hope we fight well tomorrow." He said as if trying to make small talk. The guy seemed like a nervous reck, but Danny couldn't feel any magical power from him. The only people he had seen that could hide their magical power were Gaira and the human Ed. If this guy was on their level, then he was not someone to be taken lightly, no matter how he acted.

"Who are you?" Jack asked confused.

The boy had a panic attack waving in arms above, completely embarrassed. "Ah, I'm sorry for showing up without even introducing myself." He said before rubbing the back of his neck and saying. "I'm Rolan from the Chess Pieces. I think I'll be in the battle tomorrow, so I came to introduce myself."

"You're a Chess Piece?" Jack asked as if he didn't believe it.

"You're a Knight, aren't you?" Danny asked trying to push back his drinking buzz so that he could be prepared to fight if he had to. He started to synchronize with his ARM.

"Ye... yes I am." Rolan said grinning in a shy but good natured way. Danny was prepared and about to activate his ARM, but then Rolan said. "Well, see you tomorrow!..." He shouted and ran off the way that he came.

"That guy was a knight?" Ed said confused.

"Don't underestimate him." Danny said seriously creeping Jack and Ed out. Danny turned and continued towards Snow's room.

Danny sat guard outside of Snow's room as he waited for himself to sober up. The inability to sleep unless he exhausted his core was both a blessing and a curse. He could never be taken off guard and there were more hours in the day to do things... but it was lonely after night fell.

Ed the dog had gone inside of Snow's room with her to help her into bed, but the dog still didn't like Danny. Danny found it a little odd, since usually canines loved him back home. The smell of his ice core caused them to tingle with excitement. Then again, Ed wasn't much of a dog. What kind of dog is afraid of cats?

Another thing on Danny's mind was Rolan. He knew that they could not afford to underestimate the guy, but it did make him wonder if that embarrassed boy thing was all an act, or if some of the Chess Pieces had strange motives from joining. Why did a normal human decide to suddenly try to destroy the world? Danny just couldn't understand the point of it all.

He was shocked out of his thoughts though when the amount of magical power in Snow's room sky rocketed. He quickly turned and pulled the door open ready to defend his princess, but found the human Ed standing over her as she lay on her bed, giggling in her sleep.

This Ed looked over at Danny gave a small grin and shrugged before gesturing out the door. They both left the room and sat down on the ground outside. "So, what was the dog doing sleeping in the Princess's room?" Danny asked, since human Ed coming out would have required the dog to go to sleep.

"The princess packs a mean right hook. Even in her sleep." Ed said rubbing his cheek with a grin, even though the hit happened to the dog, not him. "I haven't been out in a little while since the dog hasn't been able to sleep do to worry. What a joke?" He grumbled pulling out a cigar and lighting it with a Fire ARM. "What about you? You going to sleep?"

Danny shook his head. "My body doesn't require sleep unless I exhaust my cores supply of energy. And even then I'll only be out for an hour or two." Danny said not looking at the older man. A hand moved over his chest over his ice core. Soft flickers of energy passed through him. "I always have to wonder if this body is a blessing or a curse."

"Geez, what I wouldn't do to never need to sleep." Ed said with a small chuckle before taking a long puff on his cigar.

"You know those will kill you right?" Danny said with a raised eyebrow but Ed just scoffed.

"Boss used to say the same thing, but I'm pretty sure we use different plants in this world than in yours. Besides, you're died. Why should I listen to you about what will or will not kill me." Ed said jokingly.

"Because I have a lot more experience when it comings to dying. Trust me it isn't fun." Danny said back also joking. "So do you also hate me like the other Ed?"

Human Ed thought about it for a moment. "I'm a bit nervous, but I don't hate you. No matter what you are, you're still just some dumb kid trying to help save the world to me." Ed said. "Besides, the dog doesn't hate you, he just realizes that the Princess is in love with you. He's always been an oldmaid about such things. I don't see any problem with young love. Just make sure you take good care of her, or I will kill you."

"Oh, thanks." Danny said rolling his eyes. But then he add. "I will make sure she stays happy. No matter how dark things get."

"Good for you kid." Ed said as he got up and started walking away. "I'm going to hit the kitchen. I'm starved." He waved back at Danny. "See you at the fights tomorrow. It's about time I get in on the action."

* * *

**We are getting to the end of what I have written so far for this story, but unfortunately I am reaching the point in the process were I look up and see that there is no end in sight. So after this next two rounds in the War Games I am going to speed up the process and make all hell break loose, unless I give up before then. **

**Sorry that the updates are going to start being slow, since up until now I have just been posting things that I had wrote over the course of five months. I am also juggling a DPXSailorMoon, DPXSoulEater, DPXYugioh, and DBZ, not to mention finals and my job.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

The next morning they all gathered outside at the usual spot to wait for the beginning of the third stage of the War Games. "Did you sleep well, Snow?" Danny asked as they waited.

"Yes, I slept great." She said stretching. But then her voice became more serious. "Volcano huh?"

Danny nodded knowingly. "We'll just have to do the best we can." Danny said before smiling. "Just keep a cool head and always remember to keep a back up plan. I'm sure you'll do fine." Snow smiled and nodded.

The purple goblin arrived and Danny secretly wondered if they couldn't just kill it and tell whoever replaced it that they were supposed to fight on a nice tropical island or something. But his personal hatred for the creature and the promise of not having to go into a volcano was not enough to press Danny to murder a sentient creature.

"So, about today's battle, who will be the six from MAR?" The goblin asked.

Ginta gave a loud whoop and jumped forward. "I'm really in the mood to beat the crap out of some Chess Pieces today!" He said clenching his fists, Babbo flouted along side him and nodded his agreement.

"I'll show you the results of my training with Gaira!" Jack boasted flexing his muscles. Alviss walked forward more quietly then the first two and Snow and Danny joined them.

"Only those members? There are only five." Someone from the audience pointed out. "Isn't either Dorothy or Nanashi fighting?"

"Hey, what's wrong, Dorothy, Nanashi?" Ginta asked the two.

"Today's match needs six people." Jack said.

"I'm not really in the mood today." Dorothy said childishly. Ginta and Jack's jaws dropped.

"Today's the day to flirt with these girls." Nanashi said as he walked off with two young girls in hand. It was too much for Ginta and Jack who fell over.

"Is team MAR getting disbanded already? I knew I should have been the captain, since you get no respect from others." Babbo said sparking another argument between him and Ginta.

As things started to get out of control Alviss looked to his little fairy friend. "Belle." He said simply and she nodded.

Flying out in front of everyone Belle shouted. "Quiet!" The goofballs stopped fighting to look at her. Clearing her throat Belle said. "Don't worry, there is one more person." She said to build suspense.

"One more person?" Ginta said confused, he went over everyone in team MAR in his mind, but drew a blank.

"The sixth fighter? Who?" Someone in the crowd asked.

Belle grinned. "Come on out, our sixth fighter!" She shouted and pointed towards the door of the castle. The doors opened and the human Ed slowly walked out in a dramatic fashion.

"Good morning, everyone!" He said grinning with his hands on his hips, standing there like a badass out of hell.

Cheers erupted through the gathered people. "It's Allan!" "Boss's partner from the previous War Games!" "He's alive!" "Wow, who knew MAR had such a secret weapon?"

"Old man!" Jack and Ginta shouted as they ran up to him. "About time you sleepy head." Ginta teased.

Ed crossed his arms and glared down at the two kids. "If you've got complaints, you'd better complain to the dog for taking so long to go to sleep." He said still grinning. He was glad to finally be on the outside for once.

"Is it really you, Allan?" Gaira asked walking forward with wide eyes to greet his old friend.

"Hey, Gaira." Ed said turning to the old man. "Call me Ed now."

Gaira bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry, I failed before the War Games even started, and am unable to participate in battle."

"Yes... and you can't participate either..." The purple goblin said clearly even more afraid than usual. It was true that he had been afraid of the other members of team MAR sometimes, but Allan had a reputation for killing weaker members of the Chess Pieces who ticked him off. "Since you haven't taken the test. Even though you are famous from the previous games..." The goblin just froze under the stone glare of the human Ed.

After a few moments Ed shouted. "Hey, Tomato!" That's when everyone noticed the magical power and murderous intent of Halloween. The knight was standing on top of the castle looking down at them. "We stalemated six years ago, didn't we? How about it? Don't you want to settle the score?" Ed shouted trying to goatee the knight.

Moments later a red glow came over Halloween, one that held ectoenergy. "Their Phantom is sending a message." Danny said crossing his arms.

"Pozun." Halloween said and the goblin shifted.

"Y...Yes, Lord Halloween." The goblin said trembling.

"You're name is Pozun?" Danny said off hand. "Why didn't you ever tell us? We've just been calling you the purple goblin guy."

Pozun ignored the comment as he waited for his superiors orders. "I just got a message from Phantom. Coincidentally, we have the same answer. We will accept Allan's participation in the War Games as a special case."

Cheers went through the crowd as they realized that their old hero was in the game. "In that case, how about Gaira?" Someone in the crowd said hopefully.

"I have also come to the same conclusion about him as Phantom did." Halloween said pausing. Then he laughed. "We have no use for a geezer!"

Gaira's face fell. "Geezer?" He said miserably.

"Don't be so upset, Gaira." Jack said trying to cheer the old man up. "You're training us, right?" He said grinning. "Ginta, let's show them our improvement."

"I'll leave it to you all." Gaira said solemnly. Ginta gave him a thumbs up.

"I look forward to killing you Allan!" Halloween shouted. "And you as well, young Phantom!" And with that he teleported away.

"Young Phantom?" Gaira said confused looking to his old war buddy. "What did he mean by that?"

Ed didn't answer right away but after a few moments he said. "It's nothing you need to worry about, Gaira. Just our not so secret weapon." He said, no one noticed him glancing at Danny. Then he looked to Pozun. "Are we going or not!?"

Pozun nearly jumped out of his skin. "Ah, yes sir!" He shouted lifting up his ring. "This six to the volcanic field. Andarta!" He shouted and the six participants were teleported way.

* * *

The volcanic field sure lived up to name. Dozens of small but active volcanos going out as far as the eye could see. Danny and Snow both felt the effects of the heat almost immediately half their magical powers.

"It sure is hot, must be because of the magma." Babbo said sweeting down his metal orb of a head from the heat.

"Um, if we fall into a crater, will we die?" Jack asked Pozun.

"Probably." Pozun said wondering if the boy was stupid.

"Hey, where are the Chess Pieces?" Danny asked hoping to speed things up.

"Well, you see... We have a member who overslept." Pozun admitted.

Ginta and Babbo broken into laughter about the Chess Piece that over slept.

"Guys... didn't Ed over sleep to?" Snow said causing everyone to go silent from embarrassment.

After a moment lights appeared showing that the members were teleporting in. "It looks like they're here." Pozun said relieved.

Danny could see only five members, a man with a large nose, one with a turbine, one that looked like he had the Jack in the box head with a top hat on, another with wavy red hair and the last one was the girl from the first stage who beat Jack with a cheep shot to the balls. Danny couldn't see the last guy, but he could feel him. It was the knight from the other day.

"What, there are only five of them!" Ginta shouted. "Where is the last one?"

"He's down here." The girl said pointing at the knight how had fallen down behind some rocks as he was teleported in. Ginta face planted.

"Well, that was unsightly. Plus I overslept, and... I was thinking about today's battle, and I couldn't go to bed." Rowan said making excuses. "I hope we have a good battle today."

"Who is he?" Ginta asked.

"He's the weirdo from yesterday." Jack said scratching his chin.

"Don't underestimate him." Danny said seriously getting there attention. "He is a knight, and I don't know why, but Phantom branded that guy with the Zombie Tattoo." Alviss's eyes widened.

"Are you sure?" The Cross Guard boy asked shocked as his hand went to his own tattoo. Danny only nodded.

"Oh, you can tell that I have received the blessings of Phantom?" Rolan asked surprised.

"Nothing blessed about them. They will doom you to damnation." Danny muttered. "But yeah, I can sense them for here. But can we hurry this up. I don't like waiting." Danny said as he felt his power weakening little by little.

"Then I'll go up right off the bat." Ed said walking out in front of the group and cracking his knocks.

"You're really in a hurry to fight, huh old man." Ginta said.

"Damn right I am. How many days do you think I was inside that dog?" He said angrily. "Yo, Knight boy, will you come out?" He said grinning.

"Me? I'll pass." Rolan said nervously.

Ed grunted. "I don't care whom I fight."

None of the Chess Pieces seemed to thrilled about stepping forward and facing the 'legendary Allan' in battle. Except for one stupid one. "Why is everyone wimping out? Are you all scared of this idiot." Said the Chess Piece with a turbine. He had on his own mask that had a rediculas smile and his clothes looked like something out of a cartoon about Egypt. "I'll beat this old geezer in a second." He said and jumped down to walk forward. "Then, Rolan, you'll be demoted because of your cowardice and I'll get a double promotion to the knight class."

"I guess I can't do anything about that if it happens." Rolan laughed rubbing the back of his neck. "Good luck, Alibaba."

"That stupid Rook is going to try to take on Ed while he's at full strength." Danny said shaking his head. "He deserves what is coming to him."

None of the Chess Pieces objected so Alibaba went forward. "If I kill you, I bet Halloween will cry." He said laughing.

"Aren't you a dashing guy..." Ed joked. "I'll commend you for your bravery."

"Third battle, round 1! Began!" Pozun shouted before running of to a safe distance.

"Guardian ARM; Genie's Lamp!" Alibaba shouted and the ring on his finger turned into a silver genie's lamp. "I'll teach you a lesson, legendary warrior, Allan." Alibaba said sarcastically. "You'd better not underestimate me just because I'm a Rook. In the Chess Pieces, there's the King, Queen, Knight, Bishop, Rook, and Pawn classes. But the ranking does not reflect our strength..."

"Just shut up and lose already!" Danny shouted from the sidelines making everyone jump. "You're worse than those idiots that flashbacked all the time! Keep your monologue to a thirty second max, we don't have all day!"

"Kid's got a point." Ed said chuckling. Snow knew why Danny was in a hurry. She could feel the effects of the heat draining her ice elemented magical powers too. But it most have been worse for Danny. His ice powers were connected directly to his heart, or his equivalent piece.

"Fine!" Alibaba shouted angrily rubbing the lamp. A giant green genie came out of it, crossed it's arms in defines. There were some gasps of shock from team MAR at the sheer size of the Guardian.

"I wish Alibaba would lose faster!" Danny shouted but nothing happened. "Can blame a guy for trying."

"It doesn't grant wishes." Alviss said rolling his eyes.

"Do you get it now I'm..." Alibaba started but Ed cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, we all get it." Ed said unimpressed. "Bring it." He motioned.

"Ed, you can't be so composed! You'll lose just like Nanashi!" Snow shouted. Elsewhere Nanashi started to cry.

"I don't think so. Nanashi didn't have a clue what his opponent could do. I'm pretty sure that Ed knows how to deal with oversized Guardians." Danny said glad that the fight was moving.

"That genie does look strong though." Jack said a little scared.

"No." Alviss said with finality. They all looked at him. "You guys still don't understand, just how scary Allan is."

The genie flew straight for Ed. But with one hit from his Air Hammar punch, he destroyed the entire genie in an instant. Cracks appeared in Alibaba's lamp and it shattered.

Alibaba was to stunned to move as Ed walked quickly up to him, punched him hard in the face, and then dragged him by his red scarf up the nearest volcano put towards the top lecturing the stupid Rook the whole time. Then he held the guy out over the volcano's edge and dropped him in.

On his way back to the team he passed Pozun and glared at the purple goblin. "Call it." He said serious.

"Ri... right. Winner, Allan of the Cross Guard." Pozun said terrified of the old man.

Ed got back to the team who cheered him on. Except for Danny and Snow. "That was amazing, old man. You destroyed that genie in just one hit." Ginta gushed.

"A guardian is just a balloon full of magical power if its shell isn't strong enough. And that guy didn't even have enough magical power to fuel a guardian like that one." Ed said grinning.

"Did you really need to kill him, Ed. He didn't have anymore ARM." Snow said sadly.

"The man was conceded. If I had let him live he would have gone back to attacking villages. I have no doubt of that." Ed said crossing his arms. "We kill in order to save lives."

The Chess Pieces didn't moron the lost of their idiot teammate and wasted no time sending forward the guy with the large nose.

"Alright, it's my..." Ginta started but Danny cut him off.

"No, Snow's up next." He said grabbing onto Ginta's collar causing him to fall to the ground. Ginta looked questioningly at him, but Snow nodded and put on her goofy game face and did her stretches before skipping out into the middle of the field.

"Stage three, third round. Mr. Hook of the Chess Pieces against Princess Snow of MAR. Beg..." Pozun tried to start the match but Snow stopped him.

"Hold on a second!" She shouted causing the goblin to lose his balance and fall down.

"What is it?" Pozun asked confused.

"What's wrong Snow?" Ginta shouted from the sidelines.

"This place is... hot." Snow said simply and then started to take off her jackets. Danny flushed a little as well as Jack, Ginta and Babbo as Snow took off her heavy pink and red jackets revealing a pink spaghetti strap top. "Alright ready." She said hands on hips.

"That's great, Snow!" "Yeah, Sexy Snow!" "One more layer, one more layer!" Babbo, Ginta and Jack said respectively, but they all shut up then they felt a hand on there shoulders as well as a foot on Babbo's head.

"I suggest you stop talking as if my girlfriend is a stripper, if you want to live." Danny growled and the three of them paled.

"Umm... may I start now?" Pozun asked and Snow nodded. "Then the third battle! Begin!"

"The result of this match is obvious, zoyo." Mr Hook chuckled a bit.

"He's right, Snow won't win." Ed said crossing his arms and looking away.

"There are no absolutes in battle." Danny snapped angrily. "Though the fact that Hook realizes Snow's weakness does leave her at a heavy disadvantage."

"I'll finish this in five minutes, zoyo, Princess Snow." Hook said smugly. "Weapon ARM; Screw Saber!" A long sword that had been twisted back like a screw to be only as long as a normal sword appeared in the Bishop's hand.

'He knows that I can't fight long here. I will have to be quick.' Snow thought as she prepared for the fight. "Nature ARM; Ice Sword!" She said creating her sword of ice around her hand. 'But if that Weapon ARM of his is capable of both long range and close range combat, and using my Iced Earth attack for range would just be wasting what little Magical Power I have.' Snow thought as she realized just how much trouble she was in. 'I will just have to search for an opening while preparing a finishing move.'

She cut her synchronization with her Ice Nature ARM. This weakened its power but allowed her to focus more of her energy on synchronizing with her Guardian ARM.

Hook had attacked and just as Snow had expected the sword was able to curl and uncurl itself to stab at her from a distances. The stabs were easy enough to parry but they kept her from getting closer where she could still have a chance at winning.

"Keep it up, Snow!" Ginta shouted. "She's doing perfect fine, why did you two talk like she was in trouble?" Ginta said to Danny and Ed.

"You still don't know anything about combat." Danny grumbled, the heat and worry having a negative effect on his personality. "Did Gaira teach you and Jack nothing?"

"Ha!?" Jack said angrily.

"Danny is right. You don't see anything." Ed said still not looking.

Ginta looked closer. After two minutes they finally noticed it. "Snow looks tired." Jack said.

"It has already been two minutes." Hook said smugly. "You must be reaching your limit."

Cracks started to form in Snow's Ice Sword. 'The Ice Sword can't maintain its form.' She thought knowing that the battle would be over soon. 'But I can't give up. It's just like Danny said. If a hero loses, than everyone is in danger. I can't give up. I must keep fighting.'

"This field will be the death of you!" Hook shouted and attacked again. Snow dodge as many attacks as she could but some still required her to block or parry and each one put more strain on her ARM. After a few more seconds her Ice sword cracked and some of it fell away.

"Snow..." Danny said bitting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood.

"The element of her ARM is ice. She has to synchronize with the ARM in order to strengthen herself and use her sixth sense, so she's becomes physically weak against heat, as if she was made of ice." Alviss explained to Ginta and Jack. "Simply put, in this field of volcanoes, her strength is suffering more than anyone's. Her physical and mental fatigue from it will dull her synchronization with her ARM and drain her magical power. With her magical power reduced, she has no chance of winning."

"Snow can't win... So that's what he meant." Jack said.

"No." Danny said with some force. "She still have a chance. Power isn't everything in a fight." The others looked at him and saw him shaking. "Come on Snow. I know you have a plan."

Snow was panting heavily but she had finally charged her Yukichan with everything she need in order to finish the fight. Now she just needed an opening. 'But how do I get an opening.' She though. As long as she needed to synchronize with her Ice ARM in order to fight, she was at a clear disadvantage. But then an idea accrued to her.

"Snow, give up!" Ginta shouted. "We will win the rest of the matches, so just give up!"

"No!" Snow said. "I am a princess. It is my job to protect the people of MAR and if I lose then they will be in danger. So I will never give up."

Danny nodded understandingly. He had done the same back home in Amity Park. So he couldn't tell her to stop.

Snow put on her smiling game face and started running straight at Hook. Hook thought she had lost her mind, until she easily dodged his first strike and then a second. Snow parried a third and was already almost half way to the Chess Piece. "What's going on!?" Hook shouted. She was using a good deal more strength and speed than before and her sixth sense had sharpened.

"The flow of her magical power has changed." Ed said surprised as he watch her advance. "But she only has Ice Elemental ARM. How could she...?" Then a grin broke across his face. "That Wind ARM she stole from Fu-gi."

"I knew she would have a plan." Danny said with a grin.

It was true, Snow was synchronizing with the Wind Nature ARM that she had taken from Fu-gi during the second stage. She had meant to give it to Dorothy but had forgotten when Dorothy had killed Maira. She did not know how to use it properly in battle and it would have been dangerous to try, but simply synchronizing with it had greatly improved her abilities in the volcano field, even if it wasn't a very good match for her.

Snow had worked her way straight up in front of Mr. Hook who tried to slash at her with his sword but Snow parried. The last parry she needed and her Ice Sword shattered and her right arm was cut with a glancing blow. But She raised her left fist and punched Hook straight in his large hooked nose sending him back several feet.

Finally, with everything she had left she resynchronized with her Guardian and brought out all the power she had stored up in it. "Yukichan!" Snow shouted and the giant snowman jump out and towards the Chess Piece who was on the ground a few feet away.

"Anger Anchor!" Hook shouted. Down from the sky fell a giant anchor witch landed on top of the snowman splitting him in two.

"Yukichan..." Snow said in disbelief as the snowman disappeared back into her ARM, but she had ran out of energy and fell down to her knees, too tired to move.

Hook pushed himself up and wiped the blood that was coming from his nose. "I am surprised you could move like that in your condition, let alone summon your guardian. But I had prepared a counter measure." Hook said smugly. But inside he was shocked. 'I hope I don't have to face her again outside of this lava pit.' The Chess Piece thought.

"Call the match, Pozun." Danny said his eyes full of fear. The goblin blinked at him. "If you want to live to see tomorrow, call the match!"

Pozun's eyes widened. "The winner, Mr Hook, of the Chess Pieces."

Before the goblin was even done Danny was already out on the field by Snow's side. "Snow, Snow... are you alright?" Danny said as he gently touched the tired princess's shoulders, being careful about the cut across her arm. He tried to sound calm but his core was racing. After all, he had heard of the possible side effects of over exerting your magical power; it could have seriously damaged her mind. He couldn't believe that Snow had done something so reckless for just one simple match.

Snow shifted and looked up at Danny with tired eyes. "Yeah... I'm just... tired." She said wearily as her head was bobbing slightly. "I... I didn't let the people down did I? I know you said that a hero isn't supposed to lose."

Danny's heart sank as he realized that he had been the one that had said those things. That if a hero lost that meant that they were putting everyone at risk. That was why Snow had put so much on the line. That is why she gave it her everything. Because he had said that to lose was a betrayal of the peoples trust.

Danny scoped her up in his arms and started to carry her back to the group. "You didn't let anyone down, Snow. You were great out there. And next time you will be even stronger, and you will show them hell."

"Thanks... Danny. I'll leave the rest to you." She said before her eyes fluttered closed. Danny grabbed his jackets and made a make shift bed for her to lay on back with the others.

Ed walked up behind Danny. "I think we should take her out of the next few rounds of the war games. She has been running for so long. The physical and mental fatigue must be..." Ed started but Danny cut him off.

"If you think that making her sit on the bench would be a kindness, then your wrong. There is nothing worse than being make to sit on the side lines while others fight for you." Danny said getting up and turned towards the open field of battle. "She wouldn't want to be forced to back down. And trying to make her would be the cruelest thing you would do. What she needs is power over her own destiny." He then started walking out onto the field leaving his shocked team behind. "I've got a fight to win."

* * *

**So this is as much as I have written so far for this story. I am now going to try out using a poll on this site to see how it works.**

**So you guys will decide who Danny fights next. Will it be: **

**Rolan, the knight, who would push Danny beyond his limits throughout the fight, especially since he is in a environment that weakens him. Who will probably force him to reveal his powers as Phantom. But Danny would be allowed to win or lose without really changing my plans for the story very much.**

**An OC who I would have to make up a whole new set for, but Danny would be required to actually win the fight in order to maintain the story, since Alviss loses to Rolan.**

**or will it be Kannochi who would be a ridiculously easy victory but would require me to write the back story for a throat away character that I feel no sympathy towards just to fill the fight time... I swear to Black Star if you pick this one I will never use the polls again!**


	14. What Guardian?

**This is just a quick question for everyone who wants to input.**

**I am about to assign Danny's Guardian ARM type ability, and I want to know what it should be.**

**At first I was going to model it after Cujo since a rampaging giant dog would make for a good trump card.**

**But then I noticed that 'Phantom' of the Chess Pieces had a Zombie Dragon for his strongest Guardian and he also has an ability called Phantom Cannon that turns out to work like the Spirit Cannon (Only without the different levels of focus). And since Danny has ice and Phantom has fire, it would make an interesting mirror match if them both had Dragons for Guardians as well.**

**Of course I am open for other suggestions too. **

**So here are the current options.**

**Cujo**

**Ghost like Dragon**

**Yeti**

**Other suggestions.**

**Whatever ends up getting picked with have to do battle against four giant snakes made out of lava.**

**I'll give it three days to see if I can get any really good suggestions before I just pick one of the first three, meanwhile I will go to other stories.**

* * *

**Closed!**

**We already have a winner within a few hours.**

**W0lfbr0ther suggested a tiger. Since it would be the opposite of a dragon.**

**And the more I thought about it, yes, Danny and Phantom are opposites, Green and Red, Ice and Fire, Good and Evil, even their back ground stories are opposite, where Danny's parents have abandoned him do to his ghostly blood, and Phantom's parents killed themselves rather than hurt their son.**

**It will be named Byakko, since ****Byakko is one of the four guardian spirits in Buddism, the white tiger (which is also sometime represented by a jade statue, which would be a good shade of green), who spirit of the west. Also called the Celestial Tiger. **

**Another one of the spirits is a dragon, which the spirit of the east. ****Some people might remember these spirits being used in Digimon for the mega level sovereign digimon that over saw the Digital World.**

**Byakko is supposed to be an avatar of the element of steel, and the concept of glory in battle.  
**

* * *

**I don't want to give Danny too many guardians since Ginta had 8 slots to work with and Danny only has 6**

**Speaking of which, no I have not decided on the last two powers.**


	15. Chapter 14

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

The members of the Chess Pieces watched as Danny walked away from the rest of team MAR to stand determined in the middle of the field in front of them. "Great job, Mr. Hook." Pano, the girl who beat Jack in the first stage of the games, said sarcastically. "You beat up the guy's girlfriend and made her bleed. Kid's probably out for blood now."

Mr. Hook scoffed. "You you have preferred it if I had lost, zoyo?" Though he had no pity for whoever had to go after him.

"You got me there, but I sure as hell ain't going out there." Pano said shaking her head. "You would have to be crazy to want to fight him."

"Um... if it's alright with you all... I'd like to be the one to fight him." Rolan said rubbing the back of his head and giving his scatterbrained smile.

The rest of the members of his team looked at him and blinked several times in shock. "What? But I thought you were to scared to fight?" Pano said confused.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm... I'm really nervous." Rolan said looking across the field towards Danny. "But... but I really want to fight him."

"Whatever, I don't want him." Pano said and Rolan nodded and started walking out towards the middle of the field.

"So they are sending in their Knight..." Ed said his arms crossed.

"They must be serious..." Alviss said, but then Rolan slipped on a loose rock and fell down on his face. "... or not."

"Owe..." Rolan said rubbing his face.

"How on earth did this guy become a knight?" Pano deadpanned.

"Don't underestimate him, zoyo, Pano." Mr. Hook said. "I have never seen Rolan fight before, but I am sure that Phantom made him a knight for a reason, zoyo."

"That guy is going to be fighting Danny?" Ginta said laughing with Babbo at the knight's face-plant.

"I almost feel sorry for him..." Jack said.

Danny was not laughing as the knight reached him. "Oh, how embarrassing..." Rolan said rubbing the back of his head. Danny wasn't going to let his guard down, no mater how stupid the knight acted. Danny had also used mind games in the past in order to get people to lower their guards, and he wasn't about to fall for it. "It's a pleasure to be fighting you... I'm so excited." He said bowing to Danny. "Halloween... Halloween said that you are like Lord Phantom, and I just wanted to experience it for myself." He said causing Danny to frown.

"Well... you might just get your wish." Danny said knowing perfectly well that he was in for a hard fight, with or without his Phantom power boost. "You know that it's going to destroy you right?" Danny said trying to play his own mind game.

"What?" Rolan asked confused.

"The Zombie Tattoo, it will kill you." Danny said with a serious face.

Rolan smile lifting his sleeves to show a solid red tattoo that much have spread throughout most of his body. "You are wrong. This is the blessing of my Lord Phantom, and once it completes it's progress through my body, I will be reborn as he is, a perfect being." Rolan said.

"Is that what you think?" Danny shook his head. "Let me tell you something about ectoinfections like that one. Unless your body forms a core for the infection to feed off of, it will drain away your life force instead and leave nothing left. I can sense the progress that the Tattoo has had in you, it hasn't made a core. You won't be reborn. You will die." Danny lied, the slightly older boy was starting to form a ghost core.

Rolan blinked a few times but then smile. "As long as I can die by my Lord Phantom's side, I don't mind."

"Round 3 of stage 3 of the War Games! Danny of team MAR vs. Rolan of the Chess Pieces! Begin!" Pozun shouted before running for the hills to get out of the collateral damage range of the two fighters.

Danny wasted no time rushing the knight. Since he was working with limited resources he couldn't synchronize with his ARM but his physical strength and speed were still more than impressive do to his ghostly blood as well as the power boost that came from being summoned by the Gate Keeper Clown.

Seeing Danny coming Rolan throw his hands up into the air. "Nyan!" He shouted a odd cat like noise as if terrified and started trying to run away, causing Danny's punch to miss. Danny tried to go after him but every time he through a punch or kick the odd knight would just change directions, cause him to miss.

"Man how embarrassing." Ginta said watching the knight run around like a coward, shouting 'Nyan' over and over again. "Is this guy really a knight?"

"Stop being stupid, brat." Ed grunted his arms crossed. "You need to look past what he is acting like and see what is going on."

Ginta watched as Danny's punch missed and he lunged forward with his elbow, Rolan side stepped it in the goofy manner he had been using so far but then Danny quickly pulled a low kick to sweep at the Knight's feet. Rolan skipped neatly over it. "Wow, that was a close one." Rolan laughed.

"He's been dodging Danny the whole time!?" Ginta shouted shocked.

"Well that was fun." Rolan said as he stood a few feet away from Danny. Then he lifted up his left arm that had two rings on it and grinned as the one on his rings lit up a dusty brown color from his magic power. "But lets get started. Nature ARM; Stone Cube!" Rocks began to flout into the air and condense into large yellowish brown stone cubes, around 8 feet in all dimensions flouting in the sky above them, each of them had a strange box feature face on one side.

Danny had to move fast to dodge them as they start flying at him in ones and twos. He moved quickly and was spinning slightly as he went in order to keep track of all the stones with his eyes, since his sixth sense would require magical power he couldn't spare.

After dodge a few he was forced to jump when two came from either side of him. He jumped towards a motionless cube slightly to his right and then used it to jump towards the knight at high speeds. As his left foot touched the ground he lunged forward swinging out with his right hand. "A direct attack like that won't work." Rolan said cheerfully as he skipped back a foot.

But then he saw that Danny had swung out a bag. He was holding onto what looked like the top of a guitar that was sticking out of the open bag, and as the bag swung the thing got longer until a whole guitar was there and the bag was sent flying. Rolan was shocked as the drum of the guitar struck him on the side of the head. Danny then lunged forward again and jabbed him with the guitar in the stomach, sending the knight flying back.

Danny tried to pursue, but several of the cubes rained down on him and he had to jump back in order to stop himself from being crushed. "You used a bluff with a none magical tool in order to get past my sixth sense." Rolan said surprised as he sat up from where he had landed there was a large bruise on his right cheek, but he didn't seem to mind. "But a trick like that will only work once. So why don't you activate your ARM, so we can start the fight already. Stop suppressing your magical power."

"I try not to show my hand until my opponent does." Danny lied with a grin. He barely had any magical power left as it was. A little less than the rooks that they had seen.

"Oh, well then, I'll just have to see if I can make you use it then." Rolan said with a smile. Danny had his work cut out for him dodging all of the cubes he could as he tried to find a way closer to Rolan. But when three came at him from all directions, he was forced into the air in order to dodge them all. A fourth cube came at him and he blocked it with his guitar. But even if the guitar was fire proof it couldn't handle the strain of being used as a shield against a one ton stone cube. The ghost guitar snapped in two and Danny was knocked backwards.

As two cubes came in from either side to crush him he activated his ARM. "Version 1; Aura Guard." He said and the white aura spread across his arm and he used it to redirect himself in the air before canceling the activation to conserve energy. He fell to the ground and moved away to get some distance between the cubes and him. "You broke my guitar... man." Danny grumble watching the Chess Piece.

"Why did you turn off your ARM?" Rolan asked disappointed. "I already know what it does from watching your previous match, so why try to hide it?"

"Why isn't Danny using his ARM? With version 2, spirit cannon, he could use long range combat to his advantage." Alviss asked Ed.

"It's more than that, the kid isn't even synchronized with his ARM." Ed said with a frown. "Why is he holding back... unless..."

Rolan seemed to come to the same realization as he saw that Danny was panting. "You're already tired... after that small use of your ARM?" Rolan asked looking disappointed. "I see, you're weakened from the volcano field, just like the princess was, aren't you."

"What!? Is that true!?" Ginta shouted looking to Ed.

But the person who answered was Snow. "Danny once told me that he is kept alive by a core of magic inside of him that acts in the same manner as an Ice Nature ARM." The princess said watching the fight from the make shift bed that Danny had left her in. "I suppose you could say that the heat is attacking Danny's heart."

"So that is why the kid's magical power is only at the level of a weak rook." Ed said glaring. "Why didn't he say anything?"

"Don't know what you're talking about." Danny said grinning. "I just don't need magical powers to kick your sorry butt."

"Danny, just give up! Jack, Alviss and I will win our rounds!" Ginta shouted.

"No..." Danny said with finality. "I will never give up." Danny flung his right hand out towards Rolan and a silver chain on his wrist twinkled in the light. "Weapon ARM; Chain Sword!" Danny shouted. The none magical sword ARM grew in his hand and was thrown straight at Rolan. It had been the first ARM he had taken when he had first got to MAR.

"Nyan!" Rolan shouted at he jumped to the side, barely missing being hit. "Don't think that I will fall for an attack from a none magical weapon twic... where did he go?" Rolan said blinking. He had looked away for just a moment to dodge the flying sword and Danny had used that time to disappear from sight. Rolan looked around at all of his flouting Stone Cubes, but he couldn't sense Danny's magic power.

"Nyan!" Rolan shouted again as one of his Cubes smashed into him from behind. He turned around by couldn't see anything there. "Amazing, even without magic power you've managed to hit me twice." Rolan laughed. "But if you think you can hide from me behind my Stone Cubes, then you are wrong."

Danny was using a normal Ring Knife ARM to hold himself on one of the Cubes as he waited for Rolan to turn his back. But that plan when out the window then the Stone Cube began to count down in a toy robot voice. "5...4...3..."

"Son of a..." Danny said before jumping off as hard as he could. All of the Stone Cubes exploded and Danny was blasted away hitting the ground hard but managing to roll back to his feet. "Owe." Danny said grumpily. "Don't you think blowing up all your toys was a little extreme?"

"If you miss them so much, I can always make more. Nature ARM; Stone Cube!" Rolan shouted and the stone gathered again to form the explosive cubes.

"I just had to open my mouth." Danny said eyes flicking around to note all of there positions.

"Why don't you just give up? You can't beat me?" Rolan said looking confused at Danny's determined face. "You tried you best, but you just can't win."

"You haven't even begun to see my best yet!" Danny shouted smacking his hand against the ground. "Phantom Phrost!" The heated ground caused the ice attack to only spew out a thick mist over the field while still using very little magic power.

"A smoke screen." Rolan said frowning. "I won't be taken by surprise that easily a third time." The feathers on his right shoulder began to glow. "Nature ARM; Ailes'd Angel!" Large white feathery wings appeared on Rolan's back and he flew into the air above the mist. "You will not be able to take me by surprise up here!" He shouted before flipping the wings hard, causing razor sharp feathers to fly off and down into the mist.

Rolan grinned down at the mist, but when it cleared he was shocked to find that the area was empty and that the feathers were embedded in the ground. It wasn't until then that he noticed a small build up of magical power behind him. "Sharp focus lens, Power output at 4%..." Rolan turned his head to see Danny standing on one of his cubes with the spirit cannon pointing straight at Rolan. "Fire!" The thin shot of green energy hit Rolan in the right shoulder, shattering his Ailes'd Angel and burning his shoulder before sending him falling towards the ground.

Rolan quickly called on one of the cubes to catch him and activated the self-destruct process in the one that Danny was standing on. Danny jumped off but several more flew at him. He was unable to dodge and was hit by multiple explosions before he reached the ground with a heavy thud.

"Danny!" Snow shouted worried that he had gotten seriously hurt.

"You broke my Ailes'd Angel..." Rolan said looking towards Danny who was laying face down on the ground. "Even if you were weakened, it was a very good fight. Tozun, you can call the..."

"No... he can't." Danny said starting to push himself off the ground. He had some minor burns, but he could still move. "I'm not thr...through yet."

"Why... why do you still want to fight?" Rolan said backing away wide eyed as he looked at Danny. "You can't win, I am a knight, and here you are only as strong as a rook. The difference in power is too great."

Danny was panting heavily as his eyes spotted the dimensional bag next to him. "A difference... in power?" Danny said as he reached for the bag. "That doesn't matter at all..." He was getting to his feet and reached his left hand into the bag. "It doesn't matter how much stronger than me you are. I will... will still find a way..." He pulled out a small red gem, the forth magic stone. "To defeat you!" He shouted as he pressed the magic stone into one of the still empty slots on the Ancient Gauntlet and the Gauntlet began to glow.

"He's trying to imagine a solution into existence." Alviss said surprised.

"Does that mean he can still win?" Jack asked.

"No." Ed said shortly. "Installing a magical stone like that takes a lot of mental stamina, but even more magical power. After he is done, he will be too drained to use whatever tool he managed to make."

"I think he can do it." Snow said getting their attention as she sat up. "Danny is more resourceful than you know."

"I don't now what you hope to accomplish, but I won't let you do it." Rolan said smiling as he lifted his hands and twenty of the Stone Cubes started to dog pile Danny, obscuring him from view.

"5...4...3...2..." The cubes started their count down. But then they all stopped.

"What?" Rolan said confused before all of the Stone Cubes crumbled into rocks, kicking up dust. Standing in the middle of all of it was Danny holding a large silver scythe with the six pointed star in laid with the four magic gems engraved on the head close to the pole. It had a faint brownish glow to it that quickly turned green before disappearing.

Danny looked up at Rolan with burning green eyes. "Ancient Gauntlet; Version 4; Soul Eater's Scythe." He said branding the Weapon ARM. "How about we let the real fight start now?"

Rolan smiled happily. "Oh, you've managed to come up with something new? You really are a fun one." He said as he summoned more of the Stone Cubes. "But you sure are stubborn."

"You haven't seen anything yet." Danny rushed forward as the cubes descend upon him. He sliced each one of them in two using the accuracy and speed that he gained from being synchronized with his ARM once more. Each time the silver blade cleaved though one of the cubes it would exit with a bit of brown aura on it that would turn green and be absorbed into the blade.

"How can Danny keep going, I thought you said that using the magic stone would use up the rest of his magic power?" Jack asked confused.

"Can't you feel it, Jack?" Snow said smiling as she watched her boyfriend dancing around with the deadly weapon. "His magical power is growing."

"What?" Ginta said confused.

"She's right, with ever cube he cuts down his magic seems to be restored slightly. It is still only at the level of a rook, but he can now synchronize with his ARM which makes a huge difference." Ed said amazed.

"You're ARM, it's absorbing the magic that I leave inside of my cubes for their explosive cores." Rolan said blinking in wonder. "If we keep going at this rate then I will be burning my magical power to create my cubes and you will be regaining your lost power by destroying them." He lifted his hand and frowned. "I didn't want to have to use this ARM, but I guess I have no chose." The second ring on Rolan's finger began to light up. "Electric Cage!"

A large area around Danny's feet began to glow and before Danny could get out of the space golden bars came out of the ground and bent upwards to form a cage around him. The classic golden bird cage shank until it was only six feet tall. The Soul Eater's Scythe lost it's form and shank back into the Ancient Gantlet. Danny didn't even have time to voice his question of what was going on before he began to scream and electricity was pumped through his body.

"The Electric Cage is a unique ARM, which disables the ARM of anyone trapped inside of it and then shocks them." Rolan said as he watched the sparks flying from the poles towards Danny. "If you give up, you can still live." He said a little hopefully.

"Danny!" Snow shouted from the sidelines.

"No! I will never give up." Danny said managing to get up and walking over to the edge of the cage. He grabbed onto it with both hands and the electricity pulsed through his body as he gritted his teeth and tried to break the bars. "I told Snow... that I would take care of everything, so that... that is what I am going to do!"

"No!" Rolan shouted. "Please, just give up. I don't want to have to kill you."

"And what about MAR!" Danny shouted. "What about all the innocent people who have died! Did you not want to kill them either!" His magical power was rising as he struggled against the electricity. "I will... not let... more people die!"

A white ring appeared around Danny's waist and began to move up and down his body. Rolan and Alviss let out cries of shock as they both fell to one knee, their under developed ghost cores reacting to the sudden ecto signature.

"Allen... what... what is going on?" Alviss asked the older fighter who was watching with a stoic look.

"Danny is showing his trump card." Ed said as the ring finished it's passage over Danny's body, the poles of the Electric Cage froze and shattered along with the ring on Rolan's hand.

"You... you really are just like Lord Phantom." Rolan said in awe as he managed to get up and look on the form of the boy standing in front of him.

Danny's white hair was starting to settle back down after the electricity that had been forced through it. A smile played on his lips. "You said you wanted to experience a fight with a Phantom. Well, you're going to get one."

"Lo...lord Phantom!" Pozun said shocked as the purple goblin judge watched with wide eyes.

"You mean... all this time... that kid have been Lord Phantom..." Pano said as she backed away with Mr. Hook and the other Chess Pieces.

"He... Danny is Phantom..." Alviss said he was shaking with confusion and rage.

"Guess the cat's out of the bag." Ed said shrugging. "Danny isn't really Phantom, at least he isn't the Phantom from the last war. His is a dimensional twin of Phantom's from another world. They look quite a lot alike though, don't they? But it should be obvious they aren't the same person. Danny is too young."

"So Rolan, do you still think I should give up?" Danny said as his ARM returned to vision 4, Soul Eater's Scythe, green wisps of magical power danced along the blade as Danny's power returned to the level of a bishop.

Rolan smiled. "You're taking this pretty seriously aren't you. Then I will too." Rolan said raising his Nature ARM again, a large red magical aura growing around him as his magic changed. "Nature ARM; Magma Snake!" He shouted. One of the volcano's erupted and a giant serpent made of lava shot out of it into the sky. The thing must have been seventy feet long and it's brown rock-like skin glowed red hot as he flew through the air.

Danny jumped back as the Snake tried to make a lung at him and then swung around the blade of his scythe. But the thick hardened skin of lava was a lot harder to cut though than the pieced together Stone Cubes. The blade of the scythe wouldn't go through to the core and Danny's blow just cut the surface. The snake didn't even seem to mind as another layer of lava covered the wound and fixed it.

"Alright, time to try something new." Danny said as the scythe turned back into a gantlet. "Ancient Gantlet; Version Overlay; 1 &amp; 2." The gantlet wrapped around his fist and burst into white and green aura as the aura from his Aura Guard was all concentrated into one area. As the snake came back at him He punched it head on in the nose. The energy was blasted back through the snake and it's head exploded. The snake fell to the ground and it's body rapidly cooled and turned to stone.

"How's that, Rolan? You want to give up now?" Danny teased as he grinned at the knight.

"Wowwee, that was cool. But even you can't beat me in this field." Rolan said his aura growing red once again. "Nature ARM; Magma Snakes!"

'Snake...s' Danny thought a little worried as four more volcanoes erupted each with a giant snake, just as big as the first. "Oh..." His ARM switched into full Aura Guard mode as he took to the skies weaving back and forth to dodge all of the lunging snakes. But their were to many of them and he didn't have a chance to counter attack. He ended put getting swatted by one of the tails, since he had been paying to much attention to their heads.

He was sent flying into the ground hard enough to smash a crater into the earth. "Do you see why you can't win? As long as I have lava I can create an endless number of these snakes. So won't you just give up? You gave it your best."

Danny was getting back up and his Aura Guard was retreating back into the Ancient Gantlet. Most of the damage from that last attack had been absorbed by his guard, but the heat from the snakes body still left a burn on his back were the snake had hit him. "I already told you Rolan..." Danny said as he started to take off his gantlet. "You haven't even begun to see my best yet!"

"Danny's using it." Snow said suppressed.

"What!? You mean Danny still has another trump card!?" Ginta shouted.

"If there is one thing I have learned about Danny..." Snow said as Danny's magical power became more chaotic and was focused into the gantlet. "It is that he always has another ace up his sleeve."

"Ancient Gantlet; Version 3; Celestial Tiger!" Danny shouted. The gantlet began to glow and a giant tiger appeared, one as big as Ginta's gargoyle. It was snow white with jade stripes and two great sword like fangs that made it look more like a saber-toothed tiger rather than the more modern day ones. On the silver plated helmet on its head was the six pointed star that often adorned the gantlet with the four magic gems around it as well as the two empty spots. It had two foot razor sharp metallic claws stinking out from underneath metal plates that rested on top of each of the front legs. And the dagger like tip of its tail made it armed from head to toe.

"Ca... ca... ca... cat!" Ed shouted before the big guy ducked behind Alviss and buried his head in his hands. "It's not there... it's not there..."

"Meet my Guardian, Byakko. He enjoys long walks on the beach, resting in the sun and rampaging through his opponents." Danny said grinning at the surprised looks on peoples faces. "Byakko, you know what to do!"

The tiger gave out a massive roar and rushed forward at the snakes. The snakes tried to attack the giant cat but Byakko wasn't about to go down without a fight. Within seconds Byakko had one snake impaled on his tail, with another crushed underneath a claw and still another in it mouth, it's teeth sinking into the rocky body before throwing it aside.

Rolan just stared as his snakes were being torn apart. "I... I can make more!" His ring glowed again and eight new snake came forth and rushed towards the giant tiger. Byakko struggled and lashed about as the snakes began to wrap themselves around his body. "See, even this guardian can't fight off all of my snakes!" Rolan said.

"He doesn't need to..." Danny said and Rolan only then noticed that Danny was standing right next to him. A hard fist smashed into Rolan's face, followed by one to the stomach. Danny rained punch after punch down on the knight who had been foolish enough to let down his guard. And after twenty solid punches Danny kicked him to the side sending him across the ground where he skidded a few feet before coming to a stop. "You won't ready to fight a real Phantom." He said looking down on the knight.

The lava snakes turned to stone and crumbled to the ground and Byakko throw them off. The tiger gave out one final roar before returning to the gantlet form and reattaching to Danny's arm. "Pozun!"

"Ye...yes Lord Phantom?" Pozun said shivering from behind a boulder several feet away.

"Call the match." Danny said.

"R...right. The winner of round 3 of the third stage of the War Games, is Phantom of... team MAR!?" Pozun said rather confused.

Ginta and Snow cheered for Danny, but everyone else was too shocked. Danny turned from the field of battle took two steps and then fell to the ground as the white ring appeared turning him back to normal.

"Ok, after this stage, I am gone, they can get a new ref." Pozun cried to himself.

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**I do realize that my poll was extremely bias, but I didn't really have a chose since several of you probably haven't ever watched MAR before.**

**If I had been forced to write an OC for the fight, it would have been a fire user with a pyromaniac personality. **

**Yes, I know that Soul Eater's Scythe sounds like I am referencing Soul Eater the anime were Black Star is god, but I didn't really mean to. Seriously, try to think of a name for a scythe used by a phantom that doesn't sound like a Soul Eater joke. And I am trying to avoid actually using the word Phantom in any of his weapon names. Besides, the hidden ability of the weapon is to steal away loose magic power and feed it into Danny.**

**If you want to see my reason's for the tiger than just go back one chapter to 'What Guardian?'**

**Yes I had Danny pass out so that I wouldn't have to write for Jack or Ginta's fights because they are boring. And Alviss was supposed to fight against Rolan and lose, without Rolan using anything but the Stone Cubes and one Magma Snake.**

**Rolan did have one more ARM that he could have used, which was a whip/sword, but as I think we can all agree after stage 1 of the War Games that trying to fight Danny in close quarts is assisted suicide; since he as Ghostly Super Strength, the Super Strength he got from being summoned, and the Super Strength from synchronizing with his ARM. That is 3x Super Strength, you don't want to be trying to fight that close up.  
**

**Danny is in for a lot of **** once he wakes up and everyone around him has found out that he is a Phantom.**

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**I am considering making the Chess Pieces Phantom a trollish villain in how he interacts with his underlings (Much like the Joker from Batman, which his how I view Phantom really. All of this is just for fun and revenge to him. And he has a creepy idea of how the world should be.), instead of just what he is in the anime. I am saying this now because he is going to make his first live appearance in the next chapter and I want something to lighten the mood after the people being afraid of Danny and the big fight that had just happened.**

**Just warning you in case you think you would get made about his character being shown as a little goofy.**

**And yes, I am replacing Pozun.**

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**I've got to go back to work for the next few days writing computer code since my finals are over, but after I am done with that I will probably be back. Luckily people have been doing my job wrong for the last thirty years, which makes it really easy for me to look good without putting in much effort. **


	16. Troll Phantom Entrance

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

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**This is not the real Chapter 15, only a spoof entrance for Phantom. If you don't want to see the main villain acting like Handsome Jack from Boarder Lands 2, then skip this and go to the real Chapter 15.**

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Danny regained consciousness quickly after his core returned to stable levels. "Where?" Danny asked as he saw the bits and pieces of Reginrave Castle in the sky above him.

"He's waking up." Snow said relieved as Danny turned his head to her blinking against the light that was coming from the Holy ARM, Healing Angel. Ed was holding the ARM over him and healing the cuts and burns he head received over the course of his last fight.

"Oh... right... the fight." Danny said as he remembered fighting the Knight rank chess piece, Rolan. "Did... did I lose?" He asked a little worried.

"No, you were declare the winner just before you passed out." Ginta said grinning. "Alviss, Jack and I all won our fights too." The kid said holding up a victory sign.

"Ah, that's good." Danny said sitting up and looking to Snow. Her injury had been healed and she was smiling with her carefree smile.

"Get away from him!" Alviss spat causing them to jump. "What is wrong with you, Allen!? Don't you remember what that monster did!? Don't you remember how he slaughtered out comrades!?"

"That's not true! Danny hasn't done anything wrong!" Snow shouted in protest. Ed stood up defensively between Danny and Alviss.

Danny looked in Alviss's direction and saw a crowd of scared and hateful faces staring at him from behind the young Cross Guard boy. "What is going on, Allen!" Gaira asked as he stepped forward.

"Danny isn't the same Phantom as from six years ago!" Ginta shouted.

"No! I bought that excuse with Babbo, but this is too much!" Alviss shouted.

"Do you expect us to just except that? You saw it for yourself what he is." Gaira said sternly. "Don't you believe your own eyes."

"I believe my heart, my ears, and my mind. And they all tell me that we can trust the kid." Ed said.

Danny got up and turned away from them to walk away. "Danny!" Snow shouted as he was walking away.

"Don't worry, Snow. I already knew this was going to happen. I'm used to it." Danny said turning back to her and giving a small smile. "Thanks for trying to standing up for me. But it's probably better if I go." But before Danny could take a step a chill ran through his body and a puff of white mist exited his mouth. Alviss stiffened as he too sensed the ghost power that had appeared. "He's here..." Danny said turning towards the castle and looking up. Everyone else followed his eyes.

"Wonderful, just amazing!" A man with snow white hair laughed from the top of the building. He looked like he was in his late teens or early twenties, he had pale skin and hollow purple eyes that could easily be seen, even from his position a forty feet above them on the top of the castle. His left arm was wrapped in a long white clothe and a sickly red aura was pouring out of his body. "These war games are so much more exciting than the ones from six year ago. The action, the drama, the suspense; truly worth the wait!"

"To...Tom?" Ginta said confused. "But... I saw you die. I saw the Chess Pieces kill you."

"Oh yes that, I felt that you lacked the right motivation to push you into really trying your best to kill me. After all, you had yet to personally witness a Chess Piece kill someone you cared for." Phantom said grinning like a madman. "So I befriended you and then murdered myself right in front of you. You should have seen the look on your face!"

A look of outrage passed over Ginta's face. "You... you come down here right now so I can end this!" Ginta shouted trying to raise Babbo who resisted.

"No, Ginta. You're no match for him yet." Ed said pulling the boy back. "Trying to fight him now would just be throwing your life away."

"Of course I never excepted another Phantom to be summoned from the other worlds in order to stand against me. It's like looking to a mirror and seeing a younger vision of myself." Phantom seemed giddy with excitement as he stared down at Danny. "It is too bad that you haven't given up on that last bit of weakens, that humanity of yours." Phantom laughed causing the masses to shiver. "But it seem's you aren't very appreciated on that side. How about you come and join my knights in destroying MAR?"

Danny glared up at the first knight. "Sorry Tom, but I'd sooner take dating advice from Jack." Danny said. "I promised Snow that I would help her beat you into the ground. And that is what I'm going to do."

Phantom just shrugged. "Your loss, but know let me introduce the true cast of this performance!" He said lifting his arms to each side. "The Zodiac Knights!" Twelve other figures flickered into existence behind him most of them were covered in brown cloaks in an attempt to seem more mysterious, but Halloween and Rolan both were without any cloaks. Rolan was still sporting several bruises from his fight with the Phantom Danny and the right shoulder of his blue jacket was burned off from were Danny had blasted the boys ARM off.

"Question!" Danny shouted as everyone outside of team MAR trembled a little.

"What is it?" Phantom asked confused.

"Aren't there only twelve Zotiac animals? There are thirteen of you." Danny pointed out.

"No there are thirteen animals!" Phantom shouted before turning to one of the robed figures. "Pita, there are thirteen right?" He said only just loud enough for the people on the ground to hear.

"No sir, there are only twelve." The figure said. Danny recognized the voice as the man in the moon from when they were all challenged to go to the War Games.

"Shit, why didn't anybody tell me this earlier?" Phantom asked.

"We thought you were trying to be ironic, sir." Pita replied.

"Well it's to late to change our name now... do you think we can make up a thirteenth animal and convince them that it was always there?" Phantom asked. Everyone was starting to get less scared and more weirded out by the performance.

"It would be highly unlikely, sir." Pita said as if he was Phantom's butler.

"Alright then, plan B. Rapunzel!" Phantom said turning to a different one of the hooded figures.

"Yes, Lord Phantom!" An extremely shrill voice shouted.

"You're demoted to bishop, there! We are the Zodiac Knight and...!" Phantom started but Rapunzel cut him off.

"What!? Why am I the one that gets demoted!? Rolan is the one that lost!" Rapunzel's voice was like nails on a chalk board. Rolan laughed a little light heartedly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I could never get rid of Rolan, he's adorable." Phantom said pulling the young knight into his chest and messing with his hair. "Besides, you just look so..." Phantom said trailing off as if to find the right word.

"So what!?" Rapunzel said pulling down her hood. "I'm beautiful!"

"Ah!" Danny and Ginta shouted as a shudder went through the group at the sight of the woman's face. She had hollowed out cheeks and a huge pointed nose that were hideous enough, but her beady eyes, pointed ears and fangs made her hardly look human, which she probably wasn't. But the icing on this cake of ugly was the giant drill like hair cut on her head.

Phantom shivered. "Alight, alright. Tell you what, you can fight in the next stage and if you win then we will get rid of Pinocchio instead." Phantom said quickly.

"What? Why me?" Another figure asked.

"Because you're not a real boy, now will you all shut up so I can get on with my scary speech!" Phantom shouted angrily, everyone went quiet. "Alright, now were was I... um... Pita, the flash cards!"

"Here sir." Pita said holding out a stack of cards.

"Thank you, Pita." Phantom said taking the cards. "Less see here... we are the Zodiac Knights... recreating the world... yada yada... Oh here we go. Ginta... I hate this world! I hate the mountains... I hate the forest... No I just am not feeling it anymore, you people killed the mood!" Phantom shouted. "Whatever, I don't even care any more. Purple goblin thing, read of the rules about days off... purple goblin thing?" Phantom looked around. "Where the hell is our purple goblin thing?"

"I think Pozun ran off after the stage was over, sir." Pita informed Phantom.

"Well that's just grea... what his name was Pozun? I've just been calling him that purple goblin thing all this time. Why didn't he say anything?" Phantom asked confused. "What ever, for ever three days of fighting you get one day off! Do whatever you want tomorrow, I don't care!" He said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out two red gems. "Here! Some magic stones for Babbo and that ARM the other Phantom uses! Try to because strong enough to actually challenge me!" He said tossing them down before turning and leaving with the rest of the Chess Pieces.

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**Alright, this is just a test, is everyone ok with the Chess Pieces' Phantom acting like this, or would you prefer if I changed him back to normal?**

**This is not a full chapter, nor have I gone though enough reads to get out the kinks. This is just a check to see whether I should start the chapter over.**

**By the way, the joke about Pozun's name is this; in the anime they never actually introduce Pozun, everyone just new his name without anyone telling them it. Which was kind of weird if you ask me.**


	17. Chapter 15

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.**

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Danny regained consciousness quickly after his core returned to stable levels. "Where?" Danny asked as he saw the bits and pieces of Reginrave Castle in the sky above him.

"He's waking up." Snow said relieved as Danny turned his head to her blinking against the light that was coming from the Holy ARM, Healing Angel. Ed was holding the ARM over him and healing the cuts and burns he head received over the course of his last fight.

"Oh... right... the fight." Danny said as he remembered fighting the Knight rank chess piece, Rolan. "Did... did I lose?" He asked a little worried.

"No, you were declare the winner just before you passed out." Ginta said grinning. "Alviss, Jack and I all won our fights too." The kid said holding up a victory sign.

"Ah, that's good." Danny said sitting up and looking to Snow. Her injury had been healed and she was smiling with her carefree smile.

"Get away from him!" Alviss spat causing them to jump. "What is wrong with you, Allen!? Don't you remember what that monster did!? Don't you remember how he slaughtered out comrades!?"

"That's not true! Danny hasn't done anything wrong!" Snow shouted in protest. Ed stood up defensively between Danny and Alviss.

Danny looked in Alviss's direction and saw a crowd of scared and hateful faces staring at him from behind the young Cross Guard boy. "What is going on, Allen!" Gaira asked as he stepped forward.

"Danny isn't the same Phantom as from six years ago!" Ginta shouted.

"No! I bought that excuse with Babbo, but this is too much!" Alviss shouted.

"Do you expect us to just except that? You saw it for yourself what he is." Gaira said sternly. "Don't you believe your own eyes."

"I believe my heart, my ears, and my mind. And they all tell me that we can trust the kid." Ed said.

Danny got up and turned away from them to walk away. "Danny!" Snow shouted as he was walking away.

"Don't worry, Snow. I already knew this was going to happen. I'm used to it." Danny said turning back to her and giving a small smile. "Thanks for trying to standing up for me. But it's probably better if I go." But before Danny could take a step a chill ran through his body and a puff of white mist exited his mouth. Alviss stiffened as he too sensed the massive ghost power that had appeared before collapsing in pain and grabbing at his tattoo. "He's here..." Danny said turning towards the castle.

Gaira, Ed, Nanashi, and Dorothy all sensed an overwhelming magical power and turned their heads to look up at castle roof. Everyone else followed their eyes. Gasps of confusion and fright washed through the crowd.

On the roof was a man with snow white hair and a white clothe wrapped around his left arm. He looked like he was in his late teens or early twenties, lean built and pale with hollow purple eyes that could easily be seen, even from his position a forty feet above them on the top of the castle.

"Tom!" Ginta shouted with a smile on his face. "Thank goodness you're alive I thought the Chess Pieces got you!" Ginta made to take a step toward the man but Danny yelled at him.

"Ginta stop!" Danny shouted his eyes not leaving the figure on the roof. He had never seen him personally, but it was obvious who it was. "Tom is Phantom's real name."

"How is it possible... There are two Phantoms!?" Someone in the crowd shouted.

Ginta's eyes widened and his head snapped to Phantom. "You mean... he is... he is the one that killed my dad?" Ginta was beginning to shake with anger. "Don't move! I'm going to..." Ginta shouted up at Phantom but Ed cut him off.

"No, Ginta. You're no match for him yet." Ed said pulling the boy back. "Trying to fight him now would just be throwing your life away." Ginta turned to Ed, barely being able to contain his anger. "Just remember this person. This is our true enemy. The leader of the Chess Pieces." Ed said grimly as he gazed up at Phantom, the closest thing to fear he had ever shown was plastered on his face. The look of a corned dog that was prepared to fight tooth and nail to try to stay alive as a much bigger animal came down on it.

Phantom just stood there with a pleased expression on his face as he gauged the reaction to his appearance. "Rolan." He said and the Knight appeared next to his in a blurred of light. "You did well today. I commend you."

"Th... thank you!" Rolan said. The knight was still sporting several bruises from his fight with the Phantom Danny and the right shoulder of his blue jacket was burned off from were Danny had blasted the boys ARM off. But he was smiling all the same despite the large black eye. He had a hand over his chest as he bowed a little. "I am sorry that I had lost though, Phantom."

"Yes, that was rather unexpected. But given your opponent, it could not be helped." Phantom agreed with a small chuckle that sent a shiver down the audience's spines. "Ginta, Danny, and everyone from team MAR. You're all fairly brave to stand against us." A grin spread across his face. "It looks like the thirteen have started to take an interest in the War Games."

Eleven more blurs of light appeared behind the mad phantom and Halloween, Chimaera, and nine other masked and robed figures appeared behind Phantom. Each one was giving off the magical power of a knight. Their presents was putting everyone on edge. Danny had returned and stepped protectively between Snow and the figures.

"Those guys powers are on a whole other level." Nanashi voiced what everyone was thinking.

"These are the thirteen ultimate fighters of the Chess Pieces." Ed growled. "The Zodiac Knights."

"Zodiac... Knights..." Ginta repeated.

"Snow, stay close to me." Danny said quietly.

Phantom smiled down at them. "Hey, Ginta..." He said in a friendly manner. But then his magical power exploded. Wisps of dark red power were flowing off of his body and a demonic mad grin spread across his face. His power was as strong as all the other knights combined, a whole order of magnitude beyond anything team MAR had ever experienced before. "I hate this world!" He shouted his voice echoing through the otherwise silent castle as everyone was to afraid to even breathe. "It smells, it smells, I can't stand it! The flowers, the trees, the rocks, the water, the birds, the villages, the cities, the mountains!" He shouted listing off the features of the world. "But what smells the worst of all are the humans! Putting themselves at the center of the universe, hurting others, being jealous, and envious! Even so, they think they're always right! Jealousy, hatred, betrayal, disrespect, arrogance, deception; that is the true nature of humans! It's ugly! It smells so bad I can hardly breathe!" Then his voice dropped but it could still easily be heard by the masses. His aura began to die down a little. "With just outward appearances, they are stupid. That's why I decided to kill all of them. Those in the Chess Pieces decided to give up on their world... or rather, their world threw them away." Danny flinched as those words hit home. "That's why we united. How about it, Ginta? If you want, you can become a human on this side."

"D... don't joke around with me!" Ginta shouted angrily. "What you're doing is selfish too! I'll beat you up!"

The smile never left Phantom's face. "So you say the same thing Boss did." He said as if pleased then his eyes shifted over to Danny. "And what about you Danny Phantom? It doesn't look to me as if you are too welcome on that side."

Danny just glared up at him. "I'm not about to join a crazed up fruit loop like you!" Danny spat. "I promised Snow that I would help her take you down. And that is what I plan on doing."

Phantom laughed a little. "Please don't compare me to Vlad Masters." He said shocking Danny. "You will find that I am not so passive."

"How... how do you know about Vlad?" Danny asked unable to understand.

"I know everything about you, Danny Phantom, the Prince of All Ghosts." Phantom said grinning like a mad man.

"Danny is... a prince?" Ginta asked confused.

"During my six years sealed in the grave I dreamed of nothing but you. I know that you have suffered as we have, rejected by your parents, your friends, your entire world!" Phantom shouted. "And fate has brought you here. So ask yourself, why do you side with the selfish humans?"

"You concentrate to much on the bad, Tom!" Danny shouted. "There is good in the worlds too! And I will die before I become like you! A monster who would kill his own loved ones!"

The grin was still on Phantom's face. "I expected you would say as much. But you will find that you cannot survive on that side." He pulled out two red stones and let them roll out of his hands. They fell down from the castle and to the ground and rolled over to Ginta and Danny. "I give these to the two of you. The magic stones that were once in Babbo. Grow stronger and meet me." Phantom said with a grin. Lights appeared over all of the Zodiac Knights, save Phantom himself, and they disappeared from sight. "To think that I will get the chance to fight not only my old ARM from six years ago, but also my own younger self. I'm looking forward to it." Phantom said with a friendly smile before disappearing as well.

Ginta bent down and picked up the magic stone from at his feet. "Genta? Are you alright?" Dorothy asked the boy. "I don't know what happened between you and Phantom, but you need to keep it together."

Ginta then turned to her grinning happily. "Look we got new stones, talk about lucky." He said without any signs of still being angry or depressed.

"Well, he sure bounces back fast." Nanashi commented.

"Yes, but that is one of Ginta's best qualities." Dorothy said smiling.

Danny also picked up his new magic stone. "He'll regret underestimating us." Danny said before pocketing it in his dimensional bag. He turned to Snow with a smile on his face, but the smile faded as hundreds of fearful eyes were still looking at him.

"What is wrong with all of you!" Snow shouted at the crowd of people. "Danny is fighting to protect MAR!"

"You honestly except us to but the fate of MAR in the hands of that monster!" Someone in the crowd shouted and the notion spread. "How do we know he won't turn on us to be with the other freaks!" Danny just looked away from them. Who are you supposed to deal with a crowd like that?

"This issue must be dealt with immediately." Gaira said glaring at Danny. "Should this Phantom be allowed to remain on team MAR, know that the world of MAR knows what he is?"

"There is nothing to talk about! I'm team captain and I say he stays!" Ginta shouted angrily.

"This isn't something you can just decide for everyone, Ginta!" Alviss said angrily.

"Then it's a vote! Who wants Danny to stay!" Ginta shouted raising his hand. Snow immediately raised her hand, but the others seemed a little uneasy. Ginta looked shocked towards the rest of his team. Danny looked down ashamed.

But then slowly Nanashi raised his hand. "Don't get me wrong... I'm still shocked and all. But I don't think Danny would do anything to hurt MAR. And I've already said that I'm glad he's on our side at least a dozen times in the last week. so it would be stupid of me to send him away now."

Dorothy raised her hand next. "I now see what you all were talking about with what he is and all. But Ginta had always known and gave Danny his full trust, so I will too." She said smiling at the blond haired boy.

Babbo started jumping up and down. "Danny is even less guilty of Phantom's actions than I am. If I am allowed to stay, and as your real captain no less, then he should be welcome with open arms." The ARM said, despite the fact that he had no arms.

Danny was a little surprised when Jack slowly raised his hand. "I... I am afraid of Danny. But... but he has always been doing his best. And... I don't know." The monkey boy cut off.

Alviss was wide eyed as he realized he was being out voted within the team, even if most of the crowd was still with him. Words of outrage were coming from the crowd.

Ed was the next to step forward. "I don't think you all understand what is going on." The war veteran said his arms crossed over his chest. "If the boy walks, then MAR is as good as dead." The audience went silent.

"What do you mean, Allen?" Gaira asked a little taken aback.

"Jack, Nanashi, Snow, Dorothy, Alviss, and even myself; none of us have the potential to ever be able to stand up to Phantom." The human Ed said grimly. "Ginta has the potential for strength, but you have seen the way that he fights, he lacks the traits of a true warrior in battle, and we don't have the time to train him up to his full potential like we did with his father."

Ed pointed a thumb at Danny. "You saw the way he fights. Even when he was down to only around ten percent of his full strength, he still beat a Knight that was empowered by his surroundings. The kid is our only hope of beating Phantom. Without him, the Chess Pieces have already won."

"So you're saying that after all of my training, I have to depend on this monster!" Alviss shouted angrily grabbing onto his tattoo through his jacket.

"What I am saying is, you don't have a choice." Ed said before turning away from Alviss who was still shaking with his conflicting emotions and the people in the crowd argued among themselves.

"Thanks." Danny said a small smile playing on his lips. "I mean it."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true." Ed said shrugging.

"Um..." They all turned their heads to see Pozun standing there sweating a little. "As nice as this all is I have an announcement for you." Pozun said so that everyone could hear him. "According to the rules, forever three days of fighting you get one day off. So spend tomorrow however you want."

"Speaking of rules, is there some kind of rule book or something?" Danny asked looking at the goblin. "Because you could just be making stuff up and we won't know right now."

"Oh... you want the... the rule book." Pozun said swallowing hard. "Um... Sorry bye!" He said quickly and teleported out.

"I swear I am going to hurt him the next time I see him." Danny grumbled.

"Whoohoo! I'm going to chase me some more skirts!" Nanashi said with a grin.

"He does realize that any time off we get will be spent in the training gate, right?" Jack murmured crying a bit as Babbo nodded.

"That's right, you are all going into the training gates for a day to get ready for the next stage." The human Ed said grinning at them all.

"Alright! One day in the training gate is..." Ginta started but then his brain registered what that meant. "Sixty days of training!" The faces of team MAR fell, except for Snow and Danny's.

"Don't complain. You all need to get stronger if you want to have any hope of beating a knight." Ed said crossing his arms.

Ginta nodded understanding. "Alright, but first I want to try something." He said grinning. "Ed, Alviss. I want to see if I can remove your curses."

"Remove their curses!?" Dorothy shouted. "Of course, Alice. With the power of a guardian that has the abilities of a Holy ARM would be a lot more powerful than just a normal Holy ARM."

"What the heck are they talking about?" Danny asked Snow who was blushing a little.

"It... it's something that happened while you were out." Snow said embarrassed. "It's... Babbo's fourth form."

"So Babbo, be a pal." Ginta said grinning at Babbo.

"You want me to take on that embarrassing form again... not on you life!" Babbo shouted angrily.

"Come on, Babbo. Wouldn't a real gentleman do whatever was necessary to help the needy." Nanashi said prodding the talking ARM.

"He's right, just suck it up and do it." Jack said.

"Oh... fine." Babbo grumbled.

Jack and Nanashi sat down grinning their heads off. "We got front row seats to Alice." Nanashi said happily.

"You're idiots." Dorothy sighed causing Danny to raise an eyebrow.

"Alright then, Babbo; Version 4!" Ginta said and Babbo began to glow. His form began to shift in the bright light and take on a shape that made Danny burst into laughter. Babbo had turned into a long haired woman flouting a few feet off the ground dressed in a leather fetish outfit, something that resembled a French maid with a golden halo above its head. "The Holy Protector, Alice!"

"Is... is that Babbo." Danny could help his laughter. Nanashi and Jack were crying tears of joy at seeing the 'beautiful woman', even though it was really Babbo.

Alice flouted over to Ed and Alviss and pink light danced all over them. After it became too much to see, it dimmed and left standing there was both the human and dog Ed. The Eds began to celebrate their separation, but Alviss was not celebrating as he pulled up his sleeve to show that the blood red tattoo was still there.

"Alviss..." Ginta said apologetically.

"Don't apologize. You did the best you could." Alviss said a little bitterly. "But this curse was placed on me by Phantom himself. It won't disappear until he is dead."

"That isn't true." Danny whispered quietly, so that only Snow could hear him. "Killing Phantom won't get ride of it. It is bound to his soul. Only a powerful ghost could remove it. And I don't have those powers in this world."

Snow looked at him with sad eyes. "I don't think we should tell him that. Give him hope that killing Phantom will do the job." Snow whispered back.

"But if Phantom is a Zombie, then how do you kill him? Won't he just come back to life again?" Jack asked, they all turned towards Danny.

Danny sighed. "Halfas... beings like me and Phantom, have cores inside of our bodies that keep us alive, kind of like a human heart." Danny said placing a hand over his chest felling the pulse of his own core. "If you destroy it, then Phantom will... be ended."

"So it's possible to destroy the monster after all." Alviss said not hiding his hatred for Danny who winced.

"Enough of that." Ed... uh... Allen barked angrily. "Gaira, send Ginta, Jack, Alviss, Dorothy, and Nanashi into the training gates."

Gaira nodded and opened up the gates causing some screams of protest that went ignored. "Wait, what about us!?" Snow demanded.

"Don't be stupid." Allen said turning his back to the princess. He slapped down the dog that he used to be bonded too as he demanded that he treat the princess with respect. "You two are to exhausted from your fights in the valcano field to train. You spend this time resting."

"What? But we need to get stronger! I can't lose like I did last time." Snow said. "Please Ed."

"I'll Allen now, and the answer is no." Allen said sternly.

"How about this, if we go into the training gate, then we will have sixty days till the next match. We can spend half the time training and half the time resting." Danny argued.

Allen first opened his mouth to shoot the boy down but then he thought about it. "That's not such a bad idea... Fine, I'll send you two into one training gate, but you are incharge of making sure that the princess actually gets some rest, boy." Allen said before lifting up his ARM. "Dimension ARM; Training Gate!" Allen shouted and a gate opened up below Danny and Snow pulling them in.

"No!" Ed shouted as the gate closed. "How could you leave them alone like that! What if they do something they shouldn't!" The dog shouted.

Allen pulled out a cigar and light it. "I sure hope they do." He said chuckling as he took a puff. "Life might end up awfully short. They should enjoy themselves."

"Do you honestly believe that we can trust that boy?" Gaira said angrily to his old war buddy.

"Yes. He maybe different, but he is a good kid." Allen said passing the cigar over to the elderly man. "Besides, kid's in love with the princess. He's not about to hand her over without a fight."

* * *

**It was about 50/50 for freaking ever on the polls, I was amost starting to believe that you guys were messing with me. But Normal Phantom won out over troll Phantom, probably because it would have more tension when they actually fight him. But I've decided to just leave the troll version up and just tell people that it is the troll version, because some people liked it.**

**In MAR, Snow and Ginta's friend Koyuki, could see each other in their dreams, so I am saying that Phantom could see Danny during the time that he was 'dead', or really just sealed away.**

**Next chapter will be bonding between Danny and Snow, followed by the first half of stage 4 which will be very similar to in the anime, and then the second half of stage 4 which will be my own twist, then finally going to the land of witches and the exibition match between Danny and Pha... screw it I'm calling him Tom.**


	18. Chapter 16

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

* * *

"Nature ÄRM; Tornado!" Snow shouted as she formed a large funnel of wind and pushed it across the empty field of the Training Gate, having it blow through several of the rock golems that populated its edges.

After what had happened in her match with Mr. Hook, Snow decided that it would be for the best if she held onto the Wind Nature ÄRM and learned to use it properly. The Wind Type ÄRM still wasn't a perfect fit for her, but it did start to warm up to her being its new wielder.

She was starting to pant a little after the three hours straight of train, but she still reacted with speed and accuracy when she felt a magical power coming directly at her. She caught the piece of fruit Danny tossed to her without even looking.

"You're improving fast, but maybe we should work on cutting down on the time between when you first synchronize with the ÄRM to when you can produce a strong attack." Danny said as he approached her taking a bite out of his own piece of fruit. "But that can wait until after you rest for a little while."

"I don't need a break." Snow pouted. She was starting to get pretty tired, but the main focus of there training was endurance and skill rather than raw power.

"You've been at it for hours. You need to rest if you want to learn anything." Danny insisted. "It's only been ten days, you have fifty more after this one. There's no rush."

"I don't see you taking a nap." Snow pointed out stubbornly.

"That's different. I'm not human, Snow." Danny sighed. But the princess continued to be stubborn. "Fine. I'll rest with you until you get to sleep. Will that make you happy?" Danny asked. Snow grinned and nodded.

They went over to the grassy area and sat down beneath a tree together, even sharing a blanket. The sky in the Training Gate seemed to know that it needed to turn down the lights as the sky shifted from mixtures of brilliant yellow and gold to dark shades of blue and purple.

Danny's eyes drifted through the swirls of dark colors, even though it was fascinating in itself, Danny missed the stars and moon of a real sky. It was one of the things that he hadn't been able to enjoy in the Ghost Zone, which had no night, let alone a night sky. He supposed that MÄR was a nice enough place, even if he didn't see what Ginta saw in the place. To Danny, a world was a world. The only thing that MÄR had that was special was... Snow.

It wasn't long until Danny could feel hear her breathing becoming soft and steady, signs that she had fallen asleep. But even so, he didn't immediately get up. He lay there with her a little while longer, enjoying the coolness of her body. Even while asleep, Snow maintained her connection with her name sake's ÄRM, causing her to give off a chill, rather than body heat. So did Danny himself.

He looked over at her sleeping face. Her cheeks were so soft and innocent. She had an almost babyish cuteness about her. No one would have been able to guess the betrayal she had gone through, the struggles her small body had to endure. Danny couldn't help but sigh. Even with how much they were alike, there we to many differences.

Snow was a Princess, beloved by the people with hundreds who would swear loyalty to her and fight in her name. Where as Danny was an abomination, something to be fear or cursed from behind closed doors, and hunted if he didn't simply move on before the general masses could gather up the courage. She was the symbol of the world's last hope. He was a reminder of its enemy.

But still she choose him. She wanted to be with him. And he wanted to do everything he could to stay with her. He knew that even once the war was over, the people of MÄR would still not trust him. Even on Earth, it had never mattered how many heroic feats he had accomplished, the general public still feared him, and in the end, so did his friends. Even so, he hoped that he could remain at her side. Maybe they would elope once the kingdom was saved, get married and start over off in the country side, or in a new world entirely.

But first, Danny would have to fulfill his promise to her and save MÄR. And for that, he would need to get stronger. Danny got up and went off to the edge of the Training Gate again.

"If I am going to be strong enough..." He mumbled to himself as he remembered the massive power the other Phantom had displayed. "I can't hold back anything." A white ring appeared around his waist, changing him into his own Phantom form. He could feel the magic power pushing through him, all of the strength he had.

But it lacked training and stamina. So he decided, until he left the training gate, he would stay in that form. And soon, he would show that other Phantom who's boss.

* * *

Snow had sleep for three hours before she started to steer. She pushed herself up, stretching like a cat and rubbing her arms to try to push the post training throb out of them.

Then she noticed the power. The gentle, steady, overbearing power that was coming from the edge of the Training Gate. Snow got up and walked until she was in view of Danny, sitting in a lotus position in the middle of a stone out cropping. He was in his ghost form and his Aura Guard was activated.

Power was coming off of him in waves, his aura lighting up the surrounding area. And it was strong. The transformation had taken Danny from being on the level of a high bishop to being a match for a Captain's magic power.

Seeing him up there, Snows heart filled with hope. He could do it, he could surpass the Phantom of MÄR and restore peace to the world once and for all. But... what would happen then? Snow had always been convinced that the Chess Pieces were completely in the wrong, that they were evil people and that their actions were inexcusable and unjustifiable. But ever since the War Games had actually started she realized that some of the Chess Pieces were just people. Odd people who had been rejected by the masses of MÄR and who had no where else to turn to. They looked at the Chess Pieces' Phantom and saw him as a sort of hero of the down trodden.

And then there was the crowds reaction to Danny. If it hadn't been for Allan standing up between them and Danny, they would have probably attacked him while he was still too injured and tired to move. How could they? He was doing his best to protect them? To make sure that no more innocent people died. But they all hated him simply because of what he was. How could Snow show everyone that this is all wrong? That if everyone just accepted their differences and tried to live together then they would all be better off for it.

When the crowd was demanding Danny be kicked out of Team MÄR, he didn't seem upset at all, he wasn't surprised that they did it, like it was just the way people were. Snow really wondered how Danny could stand up for people, when they feared and hated him for it.

Snow turned away from Danny's training and went back to her spot under the tree. Even if she complained about it, she real needed to rest, even if she couldn't sleep her body was exhausted. She pulled out the magical story book Danny gave her to help her relax. She opened it up and continued reading the story she had been on when she had last closed it.

It was called 'The Book Thief', and was told through the eyes of the personification of Death as he watched the lives of a small town that was just a small place being plague by problems caused by the whole world they were in being at war. Even though they were in 'Germany', the side that started the war, it was clear that most of them didn't understand what it was about or what was going on. They were just trying to live normal lives.

It made her wonder, what was life growing up for Danny? In truth, even though they had spent months alone together, Snow didn't really know that much about Danny. He told her stories about his world, about the games that were played and the sciences they had. Stories about schools and a place call 'the arcade'. And stories of the ghosts and their world. But never stories about himself, or what had happened with his family. She didn't even know how Danny became a half ghost. Just that it had something to do with the way that he had died. She hadn't even known that Danny was a prince until after the Chess Pieces' Phantom had said it. Even though she down played the importance of her own title, she had to admit that it did seem odd he never even mentioned it.

"I wish I knew more about Danny." Snow whispered. As if it heard her, the book began to glow, the pages flipped rapidly as Snow dropped it in surprise. Eventually it had been blown into it to the cover page.

Written there was the knew title, 'Life and Death: a Phantom's tale. by Ghost Writer'. Snow's heart beat quickened. She had wanted to know more about Danny, but this felt like it was going behind his back. Stealing his secrets away from him. But... she really wanted to know. She looked around to make sure that no one was looking, which should have been obvious since they were alone, before picking up the book. She turned the page and saw an index, the story was thousands of pages long, with many of the chapter tales having odd names like 'What is Love? Baby Don't Hurt Me.' or 'The Meat's Gone Bad'.

She turned the first page and looked up at the tale, 'Author's Note'.

'I have been called many things, a librarian, a book hoarder, a gather of secrets. But in truth, the thing I am above all other things, is a writer of stories. And as a story tell, I am entitled to my own views and opinions, regardless what the rest of the worlds may make if it.

I tell you this now because you are about to read a group of stories on one of my favorite somewhat live models.

This is a story of heroes, but not like ones that you have probably heard before. A story were every noble act and kind gesture only digs our lead man further and further into the hole that life had already provided for him. A story where things like friendship and family are words of betrayal and pain. A story where the ideas of good and evil, past and future, friend and foe, man and monster all lose their meanings, as black and white clash together into an endless sea of gray.

Chapter 1

The Birth of a Phantom

Starring two friends, two neglectful parents, a death trap, and a boy who is about to die.'

(((

Danny could explain what he was feeling. It was a very out of body experience of shorts, but he was still in a body, he could feel the weight of every step he took as he walked down the poorly light halls of a depressing castle. A smile played on his lips as he chuckled a bit to himself.

He came upon a balcony where he saw a woman, tall with long pink hair. She was wearing a night gown that was an odd mixture between plan cloth, metal armor, and jewelry, the effect looked more regal than casual. As she turned to him, he could see that she had dull, almost dead brown eyes, and had a black mask over her mouth.

"You called, my queen?" Danny said kneeling to the ground in front of woman.

"I take it that you are enjoying yourself, Phantom." The woman said in a disinterested manner, almost as if dealing with Danny was beneath her.

"Oh, greatly so." Danny said with a wide grin, closing his eyes as he took pleasure it in all. The feeling of a world at war. "I would have never imagined that my own self would come here from another world. Or that he would be carrying the Ancient Gantlet with him." Danny was starting to feel confused, why was he saying these things? What was going on?

"Yes, it is an interesting development. One that renders all my work of the last fifteen years rather mute. I believe that we could use the boy in place of my daughter. So if one of them does die, at least we now have a spare lying about." The woman said as she turned and looked out of the balcony and up at the moon. "I think you should return to our old home after these next stage in the war games are over. We need to finish what I started back then. And with my sister out and about, now might be the best time to do it."

"Oh good. I have been wait to return for so long. I need to repay there kindness to me." Danny said with a smile, even though he could feel hatred pumping through him. He bowed again and turned, leaving the room. "I now you have been watching me, my other self. I do hope to see you at the Caldea Islands. If would be a shame if you never learned the whole story before the end of the War Games and the end of MÄR. So you've better be getting stronger. I look forward to seeing you again."

Danny's eyes shot open, finding himself back in the Training Gate, still sitting in the same position he had been before the... whatever it was. A dream? No, he hadn't had slept in a while, he wasn't tired enough to need to. A trance maybe? Had he really been looking through the other Phantom's eyes? His body felt sore all over, as if he had been sitting there for hours and his belly felt empty. Which made some sense, the vision had only lasted about five minutes, but five minutes in the outside world was five hours in the Training Gate.

"Guess I should grab something to eat. I wonder if Snow has woken up yet." He said, stretching a bit before jumping down from his rock and starting to flout towards where he had left Snow, not letting up his control on the Aura Guard.

He arrived at the tree to see Snow still sitting their with the magic book from the Ghost Writer opened in front of her. "Hey Snow, you ready to get back to work?" Danny asked with a grin, but when Snow looked up at him her faces was covered in tears.

"Danny... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She mumbled.

Danny was shocked to see her in such a state, until he noticed the title on the cover of the book. His eyes widened. "Oh." Was all he could think of to say at first.

"I didn't mean to pry. I was just curious... and then the book changed and... I'm sorry..." She said crying some more.

Danny wondered just what she had managed to read. There were parts of his past that he didn't like to think about. Events that had gone horribly wrong. But now wasn't the time to worry about any of that. He had to comfort his girlfriend.

"It's alright. I can't blame you for being curious. I should have told you everything myself." Danny said sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her. "I'm sorry you had to find everything out this way." He had quietly into her ear.

"They were... they were all so horrible to you. Why did you protect them?" Snow asked, pushing away some of her tears. It wasn't that she was ashamed of them, Danny was the only person she would let see her cry, to help her with her emotional baggage. But she had never seen him cry, even though so many horrible things happened to him.

"I think the Ghost Writer might have been a bit over dramatic about it. Not 'everyone' was horrible, and lots of people did warm up to me eventually." Danny said trying to seem cheerful.

"And what about the people of MÄR? What about the way they reacted? It was..." Snow said with a surprising amount of anger for her.

"It was to be expected. They don't know any better, but they'll come around." Danny said. "And besides, not everyone in MÄR was like that." He put his head on top of hers. "You weren't. You, Ginta, Allan, Babbo, Dorothy, Nanashi, and even Jack; you all trusted me. And you guys are how are important. Not a group of scared towns people I've never met before." Danny paused before adding. "Snow, I'm going to help you save MÄR, no matter what anyone thinks of me. We can care about the rest after that."

Snow smiled and rested her head against Danny's chest. "Thanks." She whispered. They sat there for a moment before Danny finally spoke up.

"I think you've taken a long enough break. How about we get back to some light training." He said smiling. He stood up and held out a hand to her. She smiled again as she took it, looking up into those green eyes. She wouldn't let Danny down either. She would become strong enough to stand by his side, and they would save the world together. Then everyone would have to see how good Danny was.

The best way to solve their problems was to move forward.

(((

Gaira and Allan had been standing in the same position for twenty four hours in order to keep the gates open. Though they were pretty much used to doing that. Keeping the gates open was nothing new. Though they had to resist the urge to get hammered when some of the towns people offered them some Pupura juice.

Gaira pulled out a silver watch and looked down at it. "They should be coming back soon." Gaira said, before closing the watch and putting it back away.

Allan didn't move, it was almost as if he hadn't heard the older man at all, but several seconds later he straighten up. "They're here."

The door in front of Gaira opened and light came out. Once the light cleared everyone could see Ginta, Babbo, Dorothy, Nanashi, Jack and Alviss, though only Gaira and Allan could see how much the group had changed.

"We're back!" Ginta shouted with his usual wide grin.

"Fighting against the Shadowman for sixty days was rough... I thought I was going to die." Jack grumbled weakly.

"Ginta! We're together again!" Dorophy shouted as she jumped on Ginta and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Wha! Why is Ginta the only one that gets a hug!?" Nanashi demanded.

"How come I'm the only one that never have any girls on him? Is it because I'm a monkey?" Jack cried to himself.

"Looks like their stupidity hasn't changed." Alviss said, more than a little annoyed with his teammates.

"Alviss! Welcome back!" Belle shouted as the fairy flew up to the young boy and hugged his face.

As Gaira and Allan watched the younger fighters, a man from the village walked up behind Gaira. "They were training, right?" The man asked, a look of confusion on his face. "They don't look any different."

"You don't see it?" Gaira said with a smile, he turned back to the group and looked at the magic power that poured off of them in waves. Each one had grown to be as strong as some of the most powerful bishops, borderline captains. "Allan... it sucks to age, doesn't it."

"Hey, I'm still young, you geezer." Allan joked.

"When humans age, we don't grow much." Gaira said, watching the group acting rather immaturely. "Honestly, I didn't expect them to improve this much."

"Well, the more they polish their skills, the better." Allan said crossing his arms.

Ginta had finally struggled his way out of Dorothy's death grasp and looked around. "Huh? Where's Snow, and Danny?" He asked. The air seemed to tense at the mention of Danny.

"They went into my Training Gate just a few moments after you all, in order to both train and rest." Allan said glancing at the door at his feet. "Here they come."

Everyone that could sense magical power was shocked as the door opened and light momentarily blocked their view. The amount of magical power was as strong as all of the other five's combined. Alviss gasped and went to one knee as his tattoo throbbed with pain.

"Hey guys, long time no see." Danny said, grinning at them in his ghost form with Snow standing right beside him holding up a victory sign.

Allan was a little shocked himself. Snow was on pare with the others, but in his ghost form Danny was as strong as any four of them combined, as strong as three knights put together. The power that radiated off of him in bright green waves was strong enough to be visible to the eyes of normal people, most of whom gasped in fear and backed away.

"See what I mean, Gaira." Allan said, turning to his old war buddy and showing a wolf like grin. "The kid is the best chance we got."

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**One chapter for this story first. Next is Not as Grim, and finally I try to make something for Digital Phantom. Stupid three way ties. At least I closed it before that last guy that wanted School Yard Phantom had a chance to vote, which would have made it a four way. Too kinky for my tastes.**


	19. Chapter 17

**I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment purposes only, no money involved.**

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Danny was still rolling his shoulders to loosen up after the last bit of training as he looked around at the others. Truth be told he couldn't exactly judge how much they had grown, but they all seemed to be operating around the same level as Snow, so that was good at least.

He gaze crossed over Alviss who was kneeling on the ground in pain. "What's wrong with Alviss? Did he get hurt in training?" Danny asked, a little concerned.

"You're what's wrong with him!" Belle shouted angrily as the fairy tried to comfort the boy.

"Danny, you're still in ghost form." Snow pointed out.

"Huh? Oh, right." Danny said, letting the ring of light appear around his waist, causing him to change back to his more human appearance. "Sorry, was training in that form for the last fifty or so days." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning a little guiltily. Even in his more human form, his power was slightly above the others, the lack of need to sleep giving him an advantage in training.

Alviss's pain disappear and he stood back up. Danny didn't flinch when he saw the hatred in the older boy's eyes. He had expected to see it. Even the sixty days in the training gate wasn't enough time for him to get over it. Maybe the fact that he wouldn't even be able to stand in Phantom's presence, let alone fight him was starting to sink in.

"Danny! Snow! Welcome back!" Ginta shouted, giving the two his usual large grin, completely unaware of the tension in the air. "Wow, you two sure have gotten stronger."

"Thanks Ginta." Snow said making a small arm pumping motion. "I'm all rested up and ready to do my best against those Chess Piece." The young princess had put on her usual brave and childish bravado, but her eyes still scanned the audience, seeing all their eyes locked onto Danny, showing their fear and distrust.

"Speaking of which, when do you think Pozun will be coming back to tell us where we are going to be fighting next?" Danny said, pretending to look for the purple goblin, when he was really looking for the signs of the assassination attempt that was going to be made against him. He could see the fear in the people's eyes, they would try to kill him in his sleep, just like his parents had, not that he did sleep.

But the air filled with throaty laughter. "There isn't going to be any Pozun anymore." A voice said as light appeared in front of Team MAR, teleporting in a large Chess Piece covered in a black cloak. "For now on there is only the invincible... Cartman!" The fat Chess Piece shouted as he through off his black cloak.

"Oh no, not this fatass again." Dorothy said with an air of disgust.

"I already told you! I'm just big boned!" Cartman objected angrily.

"Who's this joker?" Jack asked without any sense of irony.

"He's the guy who lost to Alviss in the second stage. The guy was so weak that Alviss took him out with just one move." Nanashi said rolling his eyes.

"Hey! I'm not the one that lost to a little girl!" Cartman shouted back, leaving Nanashi flustered.

"He's got a point there." Danny said with a chuckle. "But Cartman, what are you doing here?" Danny was being fairly polite with the guy. Cartman was an idiot, but he didn't seem like that evil of a person.

"Well! Lord Phantom asked me to be the new referee!" He said proudly, puffing out his chest, and also his fat.

"Why? What happened to Pozun?" Ginta asked a little confused.

"I think he left on paternity leave. He said something about having a wife and kids." Cartman said, scratching his head a bit at the oddity of it.

"Sounds to me like he thought Danny was going to kill him." Allan said, glancing down at the ghost boy.

"I wasn't going to kill him." Danny insisted crossing his arms.

"Alright! Now that I'm running this show, lets get a move on it and decide the fourth stages! Princess Reginrave, please roll the dice!" Cartman shouted.

The princess of Reginrave castle walked out onto her balcony and held her hand out, letting the dice drop to the earth. They fell to the ground and rolled out in front of the group.

Danny and Snow's hearts sank as they looked at the results, a six on the die that determined the number of fights, and a four on the area. Just like last time.

"Alright! So it is going to be six on six at the ice field!" Cartman declared.

Both the ghost boy and the princess's heads shot up. "Did you say ice field?" They said together.

"Well yeah, four on the field dice means it's in the ice field. What didn't you get a rule book?" Cartman said pulling out a fair sized book and flipping to the page on the rolls. He turned the book around to show the two ice wielders.

"So last time... we were supposed to be at the ice field... not the volcano field." Ginta said, connecting the dots.

"That bastard..." Danny and Snow said together, each shaking with rage. They had fought inside of a volcano because of Pozun's cheating. Everyone stepped away from the two as ice started to spread out from were they were standing. "I'm going to kill him!" They each growled.

"You... you guys aren't talking about me are you?" Cartman asked, shaking a bit in fear of the two. "Hey don't shot the messenger! And just so you know, killing the ref is against the rules!"

They both stopped and to on friendly smiles. "No, we weren't talking about you, Cartman." Danny said trying to keep his angry twitches down.

"But... you wouldn't happen to have an extra rule book we could borrow, would you?" Snow asked nicely.

Cartman stopped shaking. "Oh yeah. Here." He said pulling out another of the books and handing it to the princess.

"Thank you." She said with a grateful smile.

"So... see you all tomorrow morning, nine o'clock sharp." Cartman said before being teleported away.

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That night was sitting outside of Snow's room, acting as a guard dog of sorts while flipping through the pages of the rule book. The book had a lot of things that Pozun had never mentioned, like what to do if Team MAR didn't have enough people on hand, special modifications to a fight that could be requested if the team captains agreed on them, the schedule for breaks, and how to request extra time for recovering from injures. Things that might have come in a lot of handy. Snow had read the book before going to sleep leaving it to keep Danny company in the more lonely hours of the night.

But some time around midnight they came; the people from the village, seven of them, each in a dark cloak that made a rather large amount of sound as it brushed against their legs since they were trying to hard to be quiet. From his spot in the shadows, Danny watched them move past him and towards the room were the other boy's were sleeping. Each of them held a none magical weapon ARM.

"This is crazy..." One of them whispered, he was shaking a little as he held tight to his ring dagger ARM.

"Shut up, stupid. We already agreed that it had to be done." A second whispered back.

"But if we fail he'll kill us." The first said.

"So we don't fail. Even he can't stop us in his sleep." A third reasoned.

"Yeah, everyone is defenseless while they are sleeping." Danny whispered from behind them. "But, I think there's a problem."

"What?" The third speaker asked, turning towards him. He froze when he saw Danny and dropped his weapon.

"I don't sleep." Danny said in a normal voice.

"Pha...Phantom!" One squeaked loudly, backing away from Danny.

They all trembled as they looked at his disappointed look. "F...for Princess Snow!" The one with the dagger shouted, running at Danny and trying to stab him, only to have the blade caught between two fingers and snapped it half.

The man fell back into his fellows and they all coward. "Please don't kill us!" They said miserably.

Danny looked down at them. A bunch of scared men, who thought they were doing the right thing. Even though they had wanted to kill him, he could bring himself to even be angry at them for it. "I'm not going to kill you. Just go home. My teammates need their sleep." Danny said turning and walking away from the men. They all scurried away from him in fear. Each believing that Danny was going to turn around and kill them at any moment.

"Thank you for sparing them." Danny turned his head slightly to see Princess Reginrave coming out from behind a corner.

"I didn't do anything. So you don't have to thank me." Danny said sitting back down and opening up the rule book.

"That is not true. You could have killed them, but you didn't." Reginrave pointed out.

"No, I couldn't have. I've never kill someone before. I can't see myself starting now. Not when people are just frightened. They are scared of me. I can understand that." Danny said miserably. "Aren't you afraid of me?"

"Yes, I am." Reginrave said simply. "But there is nothing I can do. If your choice is to kill me, I would be unable to defend myself, or any of my subjects. I maybe be willing to degrade myself to the Chess Pieces from the safety of my people, but if I am to be killed, I would rather have my dignity."

Danny scoffed. "Dignity in death is a stupid notion. Nothing matters more than live."

"An interesting statement, coming from someone who is not alive." Reginrave said, noticing the twitch in Danny's eyebrow. "It is curious that a living corpse that so much resembles Phantom would have never killed before. Do you really think you can continue with that stance with a war going on?" Reginrave asked. Danny remained silent, not wishing to reply. "Forgive me, but I most be going."

"You do that." Danny said, not looking at her as she moved by. He pushed the attack out of his mind. It was not something he was going to tell the others. There was nothing that could be done. He was a monster as far as the people were concerned, and nothing would change that.

He just had to keep focusing on the task at hand. And that meant surviving the next stage of the war games, and then heading off the Chess Pieces' Phantom at Caldea. There he would have his chance, take down Phantom, and end the war. But... how was he suppose to stop Tom, if he was not willing to kill?

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**A shorter chapter that should have probably been part of the previous one. But who cares, here it is.**


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